A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.Albert Einstein
After a few hours of night hiking, I arrived at my location for the night's camp and the location for this dreamy photograph. Initially, I wanted to capture the scene completely in focus, but I really enjoyed how my test exposure turned out with the diffused light radiating from the moon and soft trees. I abandoned my original composition and shot the scene with the a wide open aperture until I was satisfied with this image.
While I camped high above the world's largest alpine valley, the San Luis Valley, I enjoyed watching the Milky Way come into view as twilight turned into darkness before watching the core set into the city below.
While I camped high above the world's largest alpine valley, the San Luis Valley, I enjoyed watching the Milky Way come into view as twilight turned into darkness before watching the core set into the city below.
The Diamond of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park is the highest alpine big wall in the Lower 48 States. On this occasion, I admired the 600 meter tall granite wall from the bottom and watched the stars gradually shoot over this beautiful wall.
STACKEDLocation: Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, Colorado Story: While backpacking the legendary Four Pass Loop in August of 2021, there was a break in heavy monsoonal conditions that provided a window of opportunity to enjoy this tranquil scene under clear, Bortle 2 skies. The rains provided a great reminder of the dynamic nature of the Elk Range. Rockfalls were observed throughout the loop and a colossal rockfall/rock avalanche occurred on the mountain in the image several hours later. EXIF:14 * 15s @ f2.0 & ISO 6400
On the first night of a backpacking trip in the Front Range Mountains of Colorado, I wanted to catch the stars and Milky Way core set over the US Continental Divide. I waited patiently for the moon to set behind the Continental Divide around midnight before I gathered this 195 second integration of exposures. I was especially happy to capture the stillness of that late summer night through the starry reflection in this high alpine lake.
In the predawn hours of July 12, 2020 I woke up at 14,000 feet in elevation where I backpacked in the night before to see the most magnificent comet I have ever seen, Comet NEOWISE. It was clearly visible with my unaided eyes, but night was fading to daylight so I had to get shooting. I tried two compositions, one more distant to the subject to include more landscape elements and one closer into view with less environmental elements. Unfortunately, my the time I completed the second capture series, it was getting quite bright on the horizon. Fortunately, I was happy with my first composition here to include the long trail I hiked up several hours before.
