Red Mountain Pass, Colorado in Autumn

While visiting Colorado’s San Juan Mountains in early October 2008, I traveled southward on Hwy. 550 over Red Mountain Pass. A short way south of the pass, I spotted some golden-hued aspen trees on an embankment, perhaps 50 feet above the highway.

I parked my SUV as far off the highway as I could and scrambled up the embankment, and was rewarded with a view of Bear Mountain and the Animas River valley I simply could not have captured from the highway. It’s my pleasure to share that view with you.

Bear Mountain and the Animas River Valley

To see this photo in a larger view, click here.

— Gerald Blank

Twilight At Lake Eola, Downtown Orlando

A few weekends ago my brother, fellow photographer, and partner in crime, Mike, accompanied me to downtown Orlando. Or rather, I accompanied him. He knows the ins and outs of downtown better than I do, as well as the best spots for cityscape photos.
Just after sundown, we ended up on the shore of Lake Eola, looking southwest toward the Orlando skyline.

Lake Eola, Orlando

The lighting of the evening sky was ideal. It seemed like I was in the right place at the right time, which I consider to be most of what makes a great photo. I shot a series of photos, pivoting my camera after each exposure, so I could stitch them together in Photoshop to create a panorama.

The other part of what makes a good image is an eye for detail, and one detail I missed was that, from my vantage point, the colored fountain at the other side of the lake was not centered between the two buildings beyond it. Had I chosen a spot 50 yards away, it would have been centered perfectly. By the time I realized this, the glow in the sky was gone. I was a little irritated at myself for missing that detail at first, then shrugged and thought to myself: “I’ll just fix it in Photoshop.”

That ended up being easier said than done, but I did get it done. The lesson was not lost on me, however: Taking a few moments to pay attention to everything in the scene would have saved me much trouble. If one is trying to capture an action shot, that can “make or break” the photo.

I hope you enjoy viewing this photo! You can see the full panoramic view I captured by clicking here.

Sunset at Elf Lake

I first explored the lakes in Montana’s Bridger Mountains in late June of 2007, well over a year before I moved to the area. It was late afternoon when I pulled off Montana Highway 86 and followed Fairy Lake Road westward toward Sacagawea and Hardscrabble Peaks.

I was amazed to see the variety of wildflowers along the route, and was so engrossed in capturing images of them that it was early evening before I neared the end of Fairy Lake Road. At that point, the road curved around a pond named Elf Lake. Though it was still long before sunset outside the canyon, the sun was about to disappear behind the saddle next to Hardscrabble Peak, and I realized I had little time left to capture decent images.

I photographed the setting sun using a variety of exposure settings and camera angles. In one of those images, the sun appeared to be shooting rays downward toward Elf Lake, probably an effect caused by the iris diaphragm in my Nikon “kit” zoom lens, but at that point I wasn’t thinking of technicalities; I was excited because I knew I’d captured a “keeper”. The size of the sun is exaggerated in the image due to overexposure; I was not using a telephoto lens.

Moving on to the end of the road, I found Fairy Lake at the end of a short trail. The lake itself was now in the shadow of the mountains, but the Gallatin National Forest behind it was still in full sunlight, and the rising moon could be seen in the sky and reflected in the lake.

Walking around Fairy Lake, I met a young couple who were camping in a tent near the lakeshore. I commented on the great scenery there, and the guy enthused: “It’s ethereal!” It seemed unlike ordinary guy-talk to me, but I couldn’t have described it better myself.

After I returned home with my raw digital images, I had my Photoshop work cut out for me. At the time, I was not familiar with HDR image capture techniques, so a lot of digital massaging was required to get one good, printable image of each lake. I think it was worth the time, though. After viewing the images, I hope you agree.

— Gerald Blank

You can view the Elf Lake image in a larger size at:
http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Montana-Scenics/20499061_vR9rbP#!i=1728947841&k=qH39F3G

and the Fairy Lake image at:
http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Montana-Scenics/20499061_vR9rbP#!i=1708430764&k=hjtcZZr

October Snow in the San Juans

I decided to take my first trip to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in October 2008. Heading south on US Hwy. 550 through Montrose and Ridgway to Ouray, I found the trip to be scenic, even with the intermittent rain and overcast skies. This section of US 550 winds through the Uncompahgre River canyon, and the rock formations are a beautiful purplish red color which really pops out at you when moistened by rain.

As the canyon opened up to reveal Abrams Mountain towering over the town of Ouray, I felt I had made a good choice of destination, even if I could see little of the surrounding mountains.

The rain picked up strength as darkness fell, and when I awoke the morning of the 6th, there was a definite chill in the air. But the rain had stopped, and the clouds were beginning to move away from mountaintops that were now blanketed in fresh snow.

My hopes lifted with the clouds...this was exactly the kind of mountain backdrop I was hoping to find for my photos! I drove up the Camp Bird Road just outside of Ouray. After only a couple of miles, I was at an elevation where the previous night’s moisture had fallen as snow, which now blanketed both the aspens and the spruce trees...a winter wonderland in autumn. It was one of those “you had to be there” moments, but hopefully this image will give you some idea.

Still on my “to do” list is to return to the San Juans in late summer, which is wildflower season in the higher elevations.

You can see this image in a larger view at my website: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Waterfalls/Waterfalls/20528941_3nZG9d#!i=1625950781&k=CPSbZkP

Winter at Ross Peak

I live in Florida now, but living in Montana had its perks. For me, one of them was the fact that I could drive home from work, change clothes, and be at a Bridger Mountain trailhead in fifteen minutes.

The wintry mountain scene below is what one sees a quarter mile west of the Truman Gulch trailhead. Ross Peak is the one in the middle of this panoramic view.

The trail forks a short way in, and I would occasionally choose the lesser-traveled north fork, which leads steeply upward to a ridge looking directly toward Ross Peak. That ridge is visible on the right side of the photo.

Though I do not miss the long winters of the northern Rockies, I do miss the Truman Gulch trail. The area in this photo features many wildflowers in the summer months, which I will share with you closer to springtime.

To see this panoramic shot in a larger view, please visit: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Montana-Scenics/20499061_vR9rbP#!i=1623394774&k=wgqZC9z

Twilight Drilling Rig Reflected In Pond

Recently, I was asked by a client if my collection of drilling rig photos from North Dakota and Montana could be put on my website so they could order prints...so I spent a good part of this past weekend going through my image files.

I enjoyed taking the photo below, which shows Nabors Drilling rig 152 drilling a well for Samson Resources in Divide County, ND. It was taken in April, and just enough of the ice had melted off the pothole near the rig to mirror the rays of the setting sun.

I thought the reflected sunset would be a great shot—but shortly after sunset, the western sky lit up in the bright colors of twilight. So I captured a twilight image, and that is the one that I ended up selling multiple prints from.

I should add that I was just getting my feet wet in digital photography at the time, and the camera I was using was an inexpensive Kodak EasyShare, vintage 2005. I make this point because most of what makes a great image is being in the right place at the right time. The Internet has proven this out by the thousands of amazingly beautiful shots one can see on photo sharing sites—many taken with low-end cameras.

You can view this image in a larger size on my website at: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Commercial/Oilfield/21042695_4DDJ4b#!i=1674525018&k=xspP3Dx

Evening at Palace Butte

When I used to live near Bozeman, Montana, a place I visited often was Hyalite Canyon, just south of town. One evening late in the summer of 2009, I drove into the canyon until the Forest Service access road ended at the Hyalite trailhead.

By that time, there was no more sunlight in the canyon, but west of the canyon, the setting sun bathed Palace Butte and the nearby peaks in a warm glow. It was a great view, so I set up my tripod and captured several photos.

Recently, I was looking at the Palace Butte photos again and realized that darkening the sky in Photoshop would really bring the viewer's attention to the sunlit glow on Palace Butte...which was what I wanted to share all along. So here is the result. I hope you enjoy it.

You can see it in a larger view at my web site: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Montana-Scenics/20499061_vR9rbP#!i=1623345489&k=kwKX7MG