July 10
July 11
July 12
July 13
Friday July 12, 2013
It rained off and on most of the night. When I first opened the motel room door, I was greeted with a lovely sky. Quick! Grab the camera for the photo on the left.
We assembled in the parking lot at 6:30 again to return to Yankee Boy Basin. Linda had to leave (her mother had been discovered unconscious on the floor of her home the night before), so we needed another driver. I told Don that Carl would drive, if he’d give him ten minutes to get dressed. So, up the stairs I rushed, got Carl out of bed and we were soon on our way.
Since it had rained the night before, the road to Yankee Boy Basin was more rutted than it had been just two days ago. Our Forester handled it, but it was right at the limit of what the vehicle could do...
We drove up just a little farther than we had on Wednesday, where there were even more meadows opening up around us. And, since it had rained the night before, most of the plants had raindrops on them when we started out. It was a nice morning of shooting.
Above are four of the flower photos I took this morning. The leftmost photo shows a cornhusk lily covered in raindrops. The next one shows a scarlet paintbrush in front of a bush of potentilla (also called cinquefoil). The third photo is a pair of Colorado columbine with raindrops. The rightmost photo shows some white flowers that had fallen into a small stream and were partially submerged in a small cascade.
The three photos above show three of the many different meadows we could work from this morning.
The photo on the left shows a grouping of rosy paintbrush against a fallen log. The photo on the right is yet another of the many meadows of wildflowers we could choose from.
.
The photo to the left shows another of the meadows of wildflowers with Mt. Sneffels in the background. Once the sun came up, the clouds quickly disappeared.
The photo on the right shows the view back down the valley with yet another meadow of wildflowers in the foreground.
We returned to town in plenty of time for lunch. The remaining women in the group (plus Carl) drove up to Main Street to the Mexican restaurant, Bien Tiempo, for a nice lunch.
Then back to the motel to prepare some images for the afternoon critique. They wanted us to bring six images that were taken on this trip... It was interesting seeing what the others had shot.
Then back to the room, where Carl made me an evening sandwich. He had dinner at a sandwich shop up on Main Street. He said the owner reminded him of the Soup Nazi...
The rest of us took off about 6 pm heading for Ridgway for an evening shoot. We drove down Last Dollar Road to a location where we had a nice fence, lots of flowers, and Mt. Sneffels in the back ground.
The three photos above were the only decent ones I got of the fence with the Sneffels Range in the background. The photo on the right has Mt. Sneffels in it. That mountain was doing its best to impersonate Mordor all evening...
Since the distance shots weren't cooperating, I started shooting details. The photo on the left above shows some orange paintbrush and mule's ears against the fence. The center photo shows a bird on the fence. We must have been close to its nest, as it kept scolding us throughout our stay at this location. The photo on the right shows wildflowers against the sagging fence.
A drainage ditch was keeping us from getting any closer to the fence. It was deep and had steep sides, having been freshly dredged. None of us wanted to brave it. However, along the side of the road were some very pretty foxtail barley plants. The feather fronds made for a few interesting shots.
Across the road from the fence was a cow pasture. We spent some time wandering this pasture while waiting for the light to get better. The photo on the left and the center photo show a Canadian thistle that was in this pasture. The photo on the right has some cornhusk lily leaves that were starting to turn yellow.
The photo to the left shows the heavy cloud cover that was moving in. The photo on the right is a Mule's Ears flower against the gray clouds.
We were hoping for decent evening light, but it never materialized, so we left and returned to the motel.