Behind the Picture

Fall in Denver means a few things… cooler temperatures, football and of course the first snow of the season.  Just about a year ago, I went on a road trip with a friend of mine bringing me from Sacramento to Denver.  While in Salt Lake City, the first snow of the season occurred there which was nice to experience.  As I jumped on Amtrak to finish the trip home, the storm also headed east.  By the time I got to Denver there was a foot of snow on the ground.  Arriving during the snowfall I thought I had missed the opportunity to photograph, however the next morning I headed out with my camera and still found many opportunities.

One of those opportunities I found while out photographing was a mix of fall and winter in parts of the city.  As I walked past the State Capitol, I noticed the fresh blanket of snow and the orange leaves of fall continuing to fall upon the snow.  As there was a large amount of snow during the storm, I was surprised most of the leaves did not come down with the snow.  With the amount of leaves on the ground, I probably spent about an hour photographing the leaves on the snow.  The image Change of Seasons is one of my favorites with the simple leaf sitting on the ground as it shows the two seasons coming together on one day.

Just prior to Thanksgiving in 2008, I was in Southern California visiting my parents.  Instead of dealing with the heavy rush at the airport the day prior to Thanksgiving, I decided to fly out a few days earlier and explore the Salton Sea area of California.  If you have not been in this area of Southern California, it is an interesting blend of environments in not too large of an area.

The day I was ready to head back to San Diego, there was some rain which moved through the area early in the morning and made exploring on some of the dirt roads interesting.  When pulling off the side of the road to park and grab some photographs, I found the mud which was starting to take over the rental car at times.  In the past when leaving the Salton Sea area I have just headed back to the interstate near El Centro, however looking at the map I decided to take a different road just to find out what exactly is Plaster City.  As I headed away from the Salton Sea, I was running into some rain showers which were quite isolated but enough to let the pavement get wet.  As I turned west towards Plaster City I noticed the blue skies in the distance but also the wet pavement brought a great contrast between the two elements.  Once I got closer to the buildings which make up Plaster City I pulled off the road and while there were no traffic was able to photograph the Road to Plaster City.  It wasn’t long until the sun was out and the roads dried up quite quickly in the desert conditions.

In case you were wondering “What is Plaster City?”  Plaster City, is an unincorporated area and home to a large United States Gypsum plant which makes the SHEETROCK brand of gypsum panels.  The plant is connected to a gypsum quarry by a 20 mile narrow gauge railroad which is the last industrial narrow gauge railroad in the United States.

The month of March is when we receive the most snowfall in the city of Denver, so it wasn’t surprising that in late March 2010 a spring snow hit the city.  With the impending snow, most people left work a little early to make it home before the snow started really falling.  As those people were leaving work, I was heading to the city with my camera as the roads were starting to get a little snowpacked. There was an image I was hoping to get this evening and had planned around ending up in that location.  As I arrived near Union Station the snow was coming down at a rapid rate but more so the wind was howling.  At first I took cover near a building which provided some protection from the elements, it truly was miserable.

I proceeded towards millennium bridge near the train station and with the darkness starting to fall you could really see how quick the snow was falling in the lights.  By this time I was starting to get soaked in the wet snow and I knew this would not be a long evening out in the elements.  Starting to make my way towards the final location I was thinking about, I noticed the scene on the platform at Union Station.  Finding a spot I started to frame my image, which is when I realized the camera lens was pointing into the wind allowing the snow to build up quickly.  This would force me to continue to clean the lens with something dry often, however most everything on me at that time was wet from the snow.  I was able to find some dry clothes to use to clean off the lens and snapped some images.  At this time I decided to call it a night as I headed home to the warmth of my house, prior to getting to the final location.  This will have to wait until next year.

Currently the area around Union Station is being redeveloped and there is now a chain link fence in the area where this photograph was taken.

This image is available as a print or also as holiday cards.

In late 2008 I did some scouting of locations near Denver International Airport, and in December headed out to one of those locations with a photographer friend.  Parked on the side of the road we watched the aircraft depart after dusk on a mild evening.  As the aircraft took off we photographed trying to catch the lights of the plane go through the night.  One of the issues is that after sunset most of the aircraft depart to the west.  Where we were located if the aircraft would take off on the south runway, it would usually turn to the west prior to reaching our location.

After some time, I was getting ready to give up when an aircraft started a turn to what it looked like could be to the southeast and near our position.  Quickly adjusting the camera, I open the shutter and started counting the number of seconds.  I wasn’t sure when the aircraft would be out of the frame, but once it was even with me I knew that was more than enough.  With the 45 second exposure the light from the airport illuminates the bottom of the clouds which were present in the distance.  Also at that length of exposure you start to get slight movement from the visible stars.  The amount of movement of the stars depends on their distance from the north star.  I wasn’t sure at that time if this image would be the one I was hoping to obtain, but once I got home I knew this would be a keeper of an Aircraft Departing.

If you are thinking of taking a similar type of photograph please consider the following items prior to heading out:

• Be a safe distance from the airport as there are many security concerns these days.  A safe distance may help with some of those matters, but do be smart about your location.
• Respect private property.  If there is a fence don’t jump it or sneak through an opening.  If you would really like to access some property in order to photograph especially in a farm area inquire ahead of time and be honest with what you are looking to do.
• Be a safe distance off the road.  For this photograph we were not near a busy road, but one with a high speed limit.  Make sure that you are well off the road with your car and self. Additionally don’t position yourself just over a hill as drivers will not see you until they are close. If you can, use the car to also protect you from oncoming traffic as well as light pollution.  Normally I will be parked on the shoulder and photographing further down so I am not next to the car, however in a location where it can help shield me if needed.  Also know the law for area and if a reflective vest is needed where you are photographing.
• Dress for the time of year.  After a while it may start to get chilly being in one location.  Have additional layers of clothes available to add if needed or be ready to call it an evening if you are not prepared for the weather.

Have you photographed anything with paints a line in the night, or know of anything else to try with a long exposure?

Last week in Behind the Picture, I featured Snowy May Day which is a photograph of a tree in Denver’s Washington Park.  This week the same tree is featured however with a little different look.  You may recall the original image was in May during a late snowfall and it showed the grass in various locations.

In early 2009, after an overnight snowfall I decided to revisit the location in Washington Park and capture the same tree but in a different season.  Arriving before dawn, I made my way over to the location on the slick snow and ice and set-up for the image.  Once I captured the same image as before, I decided to move around a little bit to try a few different perspectives.  One challenge in this was to not create too many tracks in the snow as I was not sure if a shot would be using the snow in one location as an element to the picture.  As I moved to the right, I liked having the boat house in the image and worked to capture the stillness of the morning.  As people were out jogging and walking in the park, bringing in the tracks along the bottom of the frame became an important element as well as capturing the motion of the ducks.  This motion from the ducks helps convey the time element of the Morning in Washington Park.

If you have lived in Denver or along the front range of Colorado for any period of time you know snow in May is not uncommon at all.  So on the morning of May 1st two years ago looking out the window while working I decided to grab the camera and explore while the snow was falling.  As the weather had been warm the past few days there was not much snow sticking to the pavement however the grass was starting to get some accumulation.  I drove towards Washington Park and I had a location in my mind which I had photographed a few months earlier.  Driving south towards the park I noticed the steam coming off of Smith Lake at the north end of park and quickly changed my destination.  I started to walk around the lake and capture the elements of the snow and steam coming off the lake.  I had almost walked the entire lake when I found an interesting tree which I didn’t recall the other times I was in the park.  Walking back from the tree I liked how it framed the scene of the lake and light post and made the Snowy May Day photograph.

One comment I get with this image when someone looks closely is that the photo itself is color.  Depending on the size of the image, the first thought which goes to their mind is that the image is black and white until they notice the grass in the image.

This is not the last you will see of this tree in the Behind the Picture series.

The first question I get when someone looks at my photograph of Rainbow Curve is always, “Were you in an airplane?”.  When I let them know my feet were on solid ground for the photograph, I then get the follow-up question of “What time did you have to start climbing the mountain”?  Almost always they are surprised to know that my car is probably five feet away from where I was taking the picture.

The image of Rainbow Curve in Rocky Mountain National Park is one where I was in the right spot at the right time.  In September 2008, I was in Estes Park for the finale hike of the Team in Training season where I hiked Flattop Mountain.  Already being in the area, I decided to stay an extra day and photograph prior to heading home.  While planning the morning I was thinking of a few places which I could head to near Bear Lake and prior to sunrise started to make the drive up Bear Lake Road.  I was about halfway up the road when I just thought to myself that it would be difficult to clear the cloud cover you could start to see in the pre-dawn light.  In a split second, I found myself at a turnout and making a 180 for the risk of going up Trail Ridge Road for sunrise.  I knew from where I was it would be about 30 minutes to get up Trail Ridge Road, and that sunrise would occur in around 40 minutes.

As I backtracked and drove up Trail Ridge Road, I was wondering to myself if I had made the right decision.  That was until just around treeline when I climbed out of the clouds to clear skies.  The first thought was where could I pull off to capture this sunrise and that Rainbow Curve was maybe a 1/2 mile away.  The area at Rainbow Curve looks back towards the east and on a clear day you can see Estes Park and out to the front range of Colorado.  This morning it was just clouds.  Starting to set-up for sunrise with about 10 minutes to spare other people stopped as well to see the view.  Some of these people stayed for sunrise, while others continued up the road and towards Grand Lake.

As the sun started to rise above the clouds, I looked for different compositions using the mountains rising through the clouds to give a perspective that I was indeed close to earth and not flying across country in an aircraft.

On February 27, 2009 the Rocky Mountain News published the final edition of the newspaper.  Knowing it would be a memorable day in Colorado history as the paper had been in existence for almost 150 years, I woke up before dawn in the pursuit of some copies of the paper.  I guess I was going a little overboard since the first location I stopped at to get the paper did not have their copies yet at 6am.  I finally found a stack of the News at a nearby 7-11 and purchased a handful as well as an edition of the Denver Post, which was the main competitor to the News.

While walking home I was thinking of how many people over the years had received the paper on the front door step of their home and that it could be an interesting photograph.  The one problem was that the sun was just starting to rise and where my porch is located it needs to be about an hour after sunrise for the light to hit the porch at that time of the year.  Once I was home I took a little nap, and woke up seeing the light was just about right at that time.  Placing the paper on the porch with a slight toss I worked to get the image I was thinking of on the walk home.  The front of the paper was quite unique for this final edition and I wanted to focus on the the memorable words “Goodbye, Colorado” gracing the cover.  This meant using a shallow depth of field for the images I took that morning.  While there is some color in the wood on the porch, I also changed the image to a pure black and white image as I felt this was appropriate for the story I was telling.

I picked the one image which I felt told the story best, and this is one of the more popular images which I have sold in the past year.

Camera settings: 1/3000 @ f/4, ISO 200.