A landscape photographer's tour
Steamboat - Delta

Keith's travels in Colorado - April-May 2006

In 2004 I took my then fairly new Canon 1Ds camera on a driving tour round the Rockies in the USA. This photo-diary covers my second driving trip around Colorado in April/May 2006. There are lots of excellent photo books by people who've had a bit more time to look round than I have, such as this one by John Fielder... (lots of places I didn't get to) This collection of photography and comments has been re-written to make it easier to follow than the original (big) web page. On my return to the UK, I wrote a more technical article about the photographic aspects as a follow up to my original "Keith's first all digital visit to the Rockies"

There are other photo travel diaries covering trips to:

• Washington and Oregon in September/October 2007
• California/Oregon in April/May 2007
• Return to Colorado Sept/Oct 2008

Note for visitors from Colorado - I had a great time, thanks! I do really like the place :-)

	Daily pages 27th April London-Denver 28th April South park 29th April Leadville 30th April Aspen 1st May Aspen 2nd May Steamboat Springs 3rd May Steamboat Springs 4th May Steamboat Springs 5th May Delta 6th May Gunnison 7th May Gunnison 8th May Gunnison 9th May Fairplay 10th May Pikes Peak and back to Denver
What's the weather like? National Weather Service radar	Webcams What are the roads like?

Delta

After a thunderstorm and giant hailstones last night I woke up to see dark skies and sleet. Fortunately by the time I was ready to leave, the skies were brightening from the south. Using my executive decision device (a quarter) I decided to head south out of Steamboat on CO-131.

My first day driving the SS Grand Marquis. As I said, not an ideal vehicle for mountain passes. I looked in the manual and noticed it didn't have bow thrusters -- a bit more difficult to reverse out of the car park, although the foot operated anchor (parking brake) confused me a while. I also waited a while before checking out its acceleration. As I drive an automatic at home, I was used to the idea of kickdown (push throttle sharply to drop a gear and accelerate). With the barge (as I now know it) the kickdown is more a request to the engine room to shovel more coal into the boilers - things will happen eventually, but get used to it before trying to overtake anyone!

I'm being unfair -- it's a lovely car... ;-)

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I passed by the place I'd took some shots yesterday and got a more detailed one of the shed, but the sky was not nearly so interesting.

One of those times where the first pictures I took (yesterday) didn't include a view that I later thought was good for a print. That's one of the reasons I like to take quite a few pictures at a location - I don't always get it right.

There are two ways I'll go about landscape photography, one is for a specific location where I'll go back to a place several times to get it 'right'. I may well try several sets of lighting conditions and even work out where the sun should be for the effect I want.

The other way is much more hit and miss, looking for opportunities while I'm travelling around. I have to take several shots, since I probably won't get a second chance. It is spontaneous and produces my best black and white work - it produces pictures that have the greatest emotional impact. It's also one of the reasons I generally dislike the traditional approach to landscape photography, that promotes patience, a measured and considered approach and tripods :-)

Another downside is that on a trip like this, you are partially at the mercy of the weather. Well, nobody said I couldn't have a good time as well as taking pictures ;-)

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Just out of Steamboat Springs I went through Oak Creek, a very small town...

I decided not to try the road with the rocks in it again, and headed south towards I-70

The CO-131 road is a pleasant drive, with some nice scenery.

And the sounds of loads of these birds singing

South on CO-131

Eventually I reached I-70, but the westbound ramp was blocked by a concrete truck that had turned over after taking a turn a bit too fast (I'm presuming concrete trucks handle worse than the SS Grand Marquis)

Anyway I decided to have an early lunch, and moored up at the Yacht Club Grill

Yes, at Walcott, on the Eagle River :-)

A rather nice 'Breakfast Burrito' (note the shells and nets in the table top)

With a range of sauces :-)

Along the Eagle River I stopped several times to have a look around...

See the small patch on the middle rock in the picture?

It's a nest, made by these birds

Not long after, I joined I-70 heading west, through Glenwood Canyon

Nowhere to stop, so that will have to do :-)

Although there is this one of me at the helm of the barge...

I turned off I-70 at Junction 49 and took CO-65 up over Grand Mesa. It's a good 50 mile scenic drive up over the top of the mesa, where it was snowing :-)

On the way up, you can see for a fair distance

A web version of the picture doesn't really show all the detail.

When I'm back home I'll have a go at stitching some of the panoramic shots I took, which might well make a nice big print.

It's snowing and the road surface is steaming - probably from when it was sunny earlier...

I also had a go using the 24mm Tilt/shift lens to get a couple of odd looking pictures of a tree.

Lens tilted to play around with the plane of focus

Another creepy tree...

I've ended up in Delta ... possibly one of the less inspiring places I've stayed at. A lot more to do in Leadville or Fairplay :-)

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