La Sal from Colorado
by Paul DeCesare
Larger version available
I took this last October in SW Colorado right near the Utah border, looking west towards the La Sal Mountains. The spot isn’t reachable by car. A friend of mine drove me up the mountain on gravel road for nearly an hour to get to his father-in-law’s cabin on 600 acres (I couldn;t afford the doormat in this place, lol), then we had to ride an ATV along the cliff edge for 15 minutes to reach this location in time for sunset. I learned had to wear bright orange vests to not get shot by hunters, and we had to carry a firearm in case we encountered a mountain lion, which we thankfully did not need (although two of them started fighting in the distance, the sound echoing was EERIE but amazing to hear). Obviously I'm not an experienced explorer, glad my buddy was. But anyway, the Lord gave me this sunset that day, a shot I never could have gotten on my own because of all the private property up there.
Naturally when I got home I discovered that I would have liked to compose things differently, but this one seemed to be the best of the crop. Comments appreciated and desired if something doesn't quite work. I admit, living in Phx makes you miss Fall Color so I probably got heavy handed on the Sat slider, so let me know how you see it. Thanks!
Technicals if curious:
-Six shots a stop apart, all at f/14, no filters.
-Stacked together with Photomatix. Getting rid of the HDR soup is easy, but 6 exposures at f14 with Photomatix makes that sun go into hyper starburst mode, yikes.
-5D2, 16-35mm probably at 24mm, ISO 100
Comments
3 commentsBTW, thank you very much for your advice/suggestions on my computer configuration question last week - greatly appreciated!!
I spent 40 years as a field forester. Two things I learned about hunting season: 1) Orange vests make good targets, and 2) stay out of the woods during hunting season, if you are there for reasons other than hunting!
At least you were armed, which puts you on an equal footing with the hunters.