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Author Topic: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm  (Read 1224 times)

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« on: December 13, 2018, 04:35:01 pm »

Horizontal rain, snow, sleet, very high winds and shafts of light, and not much oxygen either for a sea level living person like myself, at over 13,000 feet on the second full day after arriving into the US.

Took this shot near to to top of the Desolation Peaks (and Flat Iron Peak if memory serves me correctly) and just before they shut the road due to the horrendous weather and the onset of winter.

Dave
« Last Edit: December 13, 2018, 04:42:18 pm by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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MattBurt

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2018, 05:40:53 pm »

Looks like my kind of place. Nice catch!
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Kevin Gallagher

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2018, 07:36:49 pm »

 Talk about your jagged edge!!
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2018, 10:16:25 am »

Looks like Orc territory from Lord of the Rings. Amazing.

sdwilsonsct

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2018, 04:22:47 pm »

Talk about your jagged edge!!

Good catch, Dave.

rabanito

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2018, 04:43:07 pm »

Like it very much
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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brandtb

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2018, 08:27:48 am »

Nice
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John R

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2018, 09:50:55 am »

Very nice. With layers and three dimensionality, it draw you in. Did I forget the beautiful subtle lighting? Not any more.

JR
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RSL

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2018, 09:57:25 am »

A fine shot, Dave. I lived most of my life in Colorado, and I used to love to watch the mountains define themselves as rain or haze moved in and separated the ridges as they grew lighter and lighter with distance. I have a bunch of shots like this one, and it punches me in the gut every time I look at one. Can't see that effect here in Florida.
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stamper

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2018, 09:59:00 am »

Very likable.

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2018, 12:06:26 pm »

Thanks everyone  :)

Yes I must admit, I am also rather chuffed with this one, and every time I look at it, it puts me right back on the top of that peak looking out over that amazing scenery, as we watched several waves of torrential rain and storm clouds blow over us.

Dave
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luxborealis

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2018, 05:59:59 pm »

It’s a ‘classic’, Dave. But the conditions you must be used to, though,as you say, not the thin air!
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Rajan Parrikar

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #13 on: December 16, 2018, 12:08:04 am »

Enjoyed it.

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2018, 12:02:09 pm »

It’s a ‘classic’, Dave. But the conditions you must be used to, though,as you say, not the thin air!

Thanks Terry for that - and yes these are conditions I am used to and have seen many times before here in Scotland. But hey, active weather is what we all want if we wish to add that extra bit if drama into an image. So sometimes (in fact quite often if the truth be known), it can be very productive to go out when the weather doesn't want you to  ;)

A fine shot, Dave. I lived most of my life in Colorado, and I used to love to watch the mountains define themselves as rain or haze moved in and separated the ridges as they grew lighter and lighter with distance. I have a bunch of shots like this one, and it punches me in the gut every time I look at one. Can't see that effect here in Florida.

Russ, then why not do yourself a favour and organise a touring holiday through Colorado in spring? That way you get to see it all again and rediscover all the old views and the enjoyment you once had when photographing them.

You're not chained down to the floor in Florida are you? So get yourself back out into mountains for a few weeks and enjoy yourself man!

Do you some real good if you did i'll wager..

Dave
« Last Edit: December 17, 2018, 12:06:20 pm by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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sdwilsonsct

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2018, 01:16:01 pm »

Thanks Terry for that - and yes these are conditions I am used to and have seen many times before here in Scotland.

Dave,
How do you protect your camera in rain and wind? Thanks!

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2018, 07:04:23 am »

Dave,
How do you protect your camera in rain and wind? Thanks!

Hi Scott, good question..

The simple answer is, that I use everything I can and is available to me at the time, you know things such as a brolly if it isn't too windy, or raising the hatchback of the car and sheltering under that, or a plastic bag with a hole cut into it etc., but for this particular image and under these fairly hostile conditions, I used the car itself as a shelter.

So what I did when I arrived at this view, was to find a parking area and then drive around within it, until I could get the vehicle into the best position where the driving rain and wind, were hitting the car mainly on the passenger rear side corner, but I still had a clear view of the scene - which of course you can't always do, so this method depends entirely on the wind direction to work, but for this shot it did line up nicely. I then put on my 70/200 zoom with its lens hood, set the IS to On and auto-focus, then set my shutter speed and ISO into a combo that allowed me to shoot with as fast a shutter speed as I could get. I then leaned over into the passenger space of the vehicle as far as I could (and flattened my poor dear wife against the passenger door temporarily), as I then rolled down the drivers side window and lined up the scene hand-held through the open window. The rain mostly stayed outside of the vehicle as I was doing this, although large puddles started to form on the top of the inside of the door and in the foot well and my legs started to get wet, but hey ho, you have to do what you have to do. I then held my breath (and so did my long suffering wife), as we kept as still as we could and waited for a lull in the buffeting motion of the wind on the car, as I then fired off a buffer full of shots just as the light seemed to be at its most interesting across the rocky outcrops to the left. I then waited for the image buffer to clear and did the same again, even though the light had now changed and the whole scene was going into darkness under the next wave of clouds, but by then reasonably happy in knowing, that I only wanted the one shot out of the bunch and that I was pretty sure I had got that already.

I then wound up the window, mopped up the water as much as I could (it was only a rental after all) and then drove on to the next location, to spend a little while trying to dry my jeans out as much as I could under the heater.

Hope this helps  ;)

Dave
« Last Edit: December 20, 2018, 07:18:13 am by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2018, 09:30:44 am »

And NONE of your suffering comes through in the beautiful shot you posted.
Hearty thanks to your wife for being so tolerant and understanding.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #18 on: December 20, 2018, 11:08:13 am »

The composition, elements, mood, tonality, subject, all converge into a perfect storm picture. Well done, mate!

sdwilsonsct

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Re: Desolation Peaks (Rockies NP) During an Early Winter Storm
« Reply #19 on: December 20, 2018, 03:37:54 pm »

The simple answer is, that I use everything I can and is available to me at the time...

Thanks, Dave. Sounds like quite an adventure.

I've been impressed with the usefulness, compactness and longevity of Op/Tech rain sleeves, even camping in Iceland for several days.
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