Bull Moose Grazing in Sprague Lake

I was super excited to see a moose at Sprague Lake yesterday in Rocky Mountain National Park. I’d just finished shooting sunrise at Dream Lake with my large format camera and was chatting with another photographer who mentioned he’d seen a moose just yesterday. Now, I’d been hearing chatter about a moose at Sprague Lake, and even hiked around the lake a couple of times in recent weeks to see if I’d find him, but hadn’t had any luck. Yesterday, though, he was hanging out on the west end of the lake happily munching on the grass and vegetation growing near the inlet.

It is always a thrill to see a moose, especaially a handsome bull like this guy. I’m thinking he still has some growing to do before he reaches full size, but even a young bull is a very imposing animal. The subspecies of moose that we have here in Colorado is the Shiras Moose (Alces alces shirasi), so they are going to run a bit smaller than their Alaskan cousins, but don’t get too comfortable around them! A bull moose in rut, or a cow with a calf can be a most dangerous animal to encounter.

In Rocky Mountain National Park it seems that the moose have been expanding their territory further and further east in recent years. I am excited to see them thriving in Colorado and hopefully we’ll all be seeing more of this awesome animal!

The exhibition Colorado: Everything but Aspens has concluded at Anthology Fine Art in Denver. I’m extremely pleased that my photo of the Petit Grepon was awarded the people’s choice award! Thank you to everyone who voted for my photos, and to the great folks at Anthology for making it all happen.

For those who didn’t make it to the gallery, I exhibited four pieces in this exhibition, which was themed around photos taken outdoors in Colorado that do not contain an aspen tree.

Longs Peak from Forest Canyon Overlook
The Petit Grepon and Cathedral Spires
Hallett Peak from Dream Lake
Eldorado Canyon Sunrise

Thank you again to everyone for your votes and support, it means a lot to me!

Longs Peak from the Forest Canyon Overlook, Rocky Mountain National Park

My original plan was to shoot a panorama of the divide from Sprague Lake. Plans changed once I reached Bear Lake Road only to find the entire valley socked in with fog and drizzle. My gut told me that these clouds were low hanging, and if I could just get high enough I might pop out of them. Since Trail Ridge Road just opened this week, I figured it was worth a shot. Sure enough, the extra drive to the Forest Canyon Overlook paid off when the sun rose.

If you find yourself in Rocky Mountain National Park on a foggy day, try going higher!

Two different shots from the same location on the same morning. In the first shot, the warm dawn light is illuminating the clouds. In the second, it has begun to warm up the snow on the Indian Peaks.

Indian Peaks Panorama #1

Indian Peaks Panorama #2

Which is your favorite?

A beaver swimming on the Little Thompson River.

We’re heading up to Estes Park today to participate in a field seminar with Rocky Mountain Nature Association. We’ll visit some beaver dams, learn more about the species, and hopefully see some critters!

A snowy Longs Peak appears to loom behind the Flatirons in this telephoto shot from Marshall Mesa.

My new 4GB USB Film Roll from PhotoJojo.

These are so cool! PhotoJojo has taken used 35mm film canisters and made them into 4GB USB Drives! The best part is that even though you don’t get to pick what type of film canister you receive, I got my film of choice for landscape photography – Fuji Provia!

I can’t wait to use this next time I take files to the lab for printing!

Green River Overlook

Delicate Arch

Mesa Arch

Turret Arch through North Window Arch

These are some photos from my recent trip to Moab, Utah that I captured with my new large format camera. We had a great trip and shooting the large format camera was a lot of fun. It does seem to attract quite a bit of attention when I bring it to the touristy areas, and more than one person has asked if they could take a picture of it. The proof is really in the pudding, though, and in this case I am extremely happy with the quality of the photos I brought back. Viewing the slides on a lightbox is really a mind blowing experince. Looking through the loupe is almost like being there as you are able to pan across the scene and see every last detail.

4×5 Slide Film on the Light Box

I can’t wait to make some big ol’ prints of these photos!

I’ve recently begun shooting with a Tachihara 4×5 Field Camera, and let me tell you it has been alot of fun! Although it looks like an antique, it was made in the modern era and cameras like it are still made to this day. A field camera is essentially a folding box that opens up with a lens board on one end, a ground glass and film holder on the other, and a light proof belows to connect them. Although many advances have been made in camera technology to help us do things faster and easier, the ultimate in quality is still obtained by shooting large format. Aside from the insane level of image quality, the process of shooting large format film has been a great experience.

Yep, that’s right, film! I shoot Fuji Provia 100F film, which is an excellent fine grained film that captures natural looking colors and scans well. That is an unexposed sheet of Provia in the center, with a bottle cap for scale. The film must be loaded into film holders (top right) before it can be used with the view camera. Opening boxes of film and loading holders must be done in total darkness, either in a darkroom or a special lightproof changing bag. I currently have five double sided film holders, so I can make a maximum of 10 exposures in a single outing. Each exposure costs approximately $5 for film and development. Needless to say, it is important to be very deliberate and careful when shooting large format.

I am currently shooting with two different lenses, a Nikon 90mm f/8 wide angle and a Nikon 180mm f/5.6 normal lens. These are approximately the same field of view as a 24mm lens and a 50mm lens on a regular 35mm camera. Large format lenses have much slower maximum apertures than SLR lenses, rarely exceeding f/5.6. The aperture must be adjusted manually using a lever attached to the shutter, and the shutter itself is a spring mechanism that must be cocked between each exposure.

After you get the camera set up, you focus and compose your image using the ground glass on the back of the camera. The image is projected onto the ground glass upside down. It might seem awkward, but it I haven’t found it to be much of an issue. Lenses with large apertures help with composition and focusing since they will project a brighter image. In dim light a dark cloth is usually necessary to shade the ground glass.

In my next post, I will share a selection of my large format photos from my recent trip to Moab, Utah.

Back to the White Rim Overlook in Canyonlands National Park this morning. I goofed up setting my alarm clock and overslept by an hour. Because of that, I barely made it to the overlook in time to catch sunrise, but I did and I’m sure glad I made it. The haze is still hanging around, but we got some color in the sky this morning. With just a brief window that the light provided this morning, I’m really happy with what I brought back!