A few days on Hermit Pass

This is truly one of my favorite places on Earth, the only place outside the San Juans I've ever considered having my ashes scattered when I'm gone. Here's a lightning storm over the Wet Mountains from Wednesday night. This is a 3-minute exposure. The lights of bustling Westcliffe are below.

The mighty Thor had a two-night engagement over the Wet Mountains. Deweese Reservoir is beyond the fog. This is about a 50% crop of the original image.

Spent three hours on top of Hermit Peak yesterday morning. The first light was blocked by clouds, but cleared them fairly shortly after sunrise. This is looking north towards the pass (you can see my truck if you look closely) and Rito Alto Peak.

And here's one looking south toward Eureka Mountain and the Crestones/Kit Carson massif. The Sierra Blanca can also be seen way down there.

Had a very dynamic, stormy afternoon yesterday. As I drove home today, I noticed some piles of hail still remained along Highway 96 just east of town.

Too many to post 'em all, but here's one more. Unnamed 13,524', which is sandwiched along the ridge between higher Rito Alto Peak and its lower, eastern neighbor, Spead Eagle Peak.

Geez, to think that early in the summer I was worried about you not getting out. Great work as always and nice to see you can bring home a new epic lightning shot every day. The hermit is on my list!

These SUCK DUDE!
Ah, just kidding, the first one just ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!! The other ain't half bad either.

That first photo is out of this freakin' world, dude! I also really like the last one as the multiple layers are really nice and provide some depth. Killer work!

Nice shots.

Very, very purty. As usual. The Eureka Mountain image strikes me as my favorite of the bunch.

Todd, you are amazing at getting these terrific lightening shots. You have had a haul that anyone would be proud of. Keep up the great work. And how about a lightening book or something...

Really sweet shots. The first and last are my faves I think, but that ridge line shot looking south is pretty cool as well. I've never been on Hermit, looks like that needs to be rectified...

Are you shooting the lightning with noise reduction on - or are you cleaning that up later?

Interesting stuff, Todd. That first lightning shot is crazy, i think it would be even better as a vertical (lhs) since the lrc is pretty vacant. The second to last is my fav of the peaks.

Dude, you are killing me!! Awesome!! So that's why you didn't come up to Hermit with Glen, Darren and I the week before!! You knew this would happen a week later, didn't you!! Great stuff man!!

Stan: Rather than crop it to a vertical, how 'bout I just pick up the entire town and move it to a more visually advantageous location?

Michael: I think I have the noise reduction setting set to auto, which usually doesn't give me problems. However, I noticed somewhere else on here that somebody had a problem with the card-writing taking as long as the long exposure. (Was that you?) That explains why every once in a while it pulls that stunt on me. In the future I will therefore turn it off for long exposures, just in case.

Hey Todd - I had read that too, so I was wondering if that had been an issue for you. That's crazy that it takes an equal amount of time to remove the noise - maybe a firmware update will help that issue. Your images are so clean I was curious of your setting, and since I finally jumped to digital I would like to try my hand at capturing a little lightning as well. Your shots and those of others recently have been very inspiring.

Rather than crop it to a vertical, how 'bout I just pick up the entire town and move it to a more visually advantageous location?

Yeah, that works as well, its a small town, no one'll notice. Just make sure you didnt spill any of the Guiness at Poag's, that would be a sin!

That first one is just insanely cool, and the Eureka mountain shot is out of this world - what a view!

All of these images are beautiful! I really like the first image

This location has really been good to you. Awe-inspiring shots for sure. The shots of Horseshoe Lake and Eureka Mountain really stand out to me. The first lightning shot is unlike anything I've ever seen. Well done.

I'm getting intrigued by this location. The first lightning shot is a winner, the town and highway lights give it great perspective. Thanks for getting out there and taking pictures for us!

After looking at these, I don't want to go to work this morning. I want to go sit on a ridge line and enjoy the beauty. You really should think about going pro one of these days.

Dude, I want your playground! Great stuff!

Yowza!!! Sure wouldn't want to be walking the skyline of that ridge without my lucky rabbit's foot. Awesome shot!! #5 is also very beautiful.
Re: Time to write to card--Yes, it takes a while if you have noise reduction turned on(about equal to the actual exposure), the same is true of the 1DMkII.