Wildflowers: Silverton-Rico Trail

It looked like a field of wildflowers was cut apart by the trail. I spent the morning doing macro images of wild geraniums and sky pilots. Many, many larkspur and blue bells. A bit windy for photographing the blue bells. I dare you to get deep depth of field on a composition of blue bells! Further up the trail there was a lovely display of bitter cress along a creek crossing; I looked for columbine to fill the foreground. I spied a few parrys primrose along the next creek crossing (crossed on a log) and used fill flash to light up the interior of the primrose.

I forgot my rain gear so when the rain and hail started I headed back down trail. The rain and storm brought amazing color saturation, however, it also brought some damage to the flowers.

All along the road (a bit burly in places) there were wonderful compositions of near far, compression of space, flowers, middle ground, mountains!

We're going out for some more lessons on Thursday, July 23, Join us!

Wildflower Report, July 18

Allison reports that the hike to Ice Lakes was "full" of wildflowers. She counted 33 varieties of wildflowers and 4-5 different colored paintbrush. Get out and stay out!

West Mancos Road Wildflowers

I went up to the top of West Mancos Road (FS 561) on the west side of the La Platas yesterday. The cattle has done quite a job eating all the flowers along the road. There are a few, spotty sections of Columbine in the Aspen forests up high, but nothing to write home about. And the mosquitos are horrendous as usual (I wonder why?). I spent some time photographing the beautiful mountain scenes with Hesperus and Centennial so close I could touch them. The bugs were biting though so it wasn't too much fun.

Zazi and I hiked a bit of the Aspen Loop Trail at Windy Gap. We started at about 7pm so the light was wonderful. There were many bunches of blue bells and geraniums as well as a few pink paintbrush, fun to shoot; handheld shallow depth of field.

San Juan Wildflower Report

Hi folks, Just back from scouting our upcoming Wildflower Photography Workshop. I checked out some of my favorite locations outside of Silverton, Colorado. Nada, nothing, zilch. We're probably 10 days - 2 weeks from prime wildflower photography in the San Juan Mountains. We've rescheduled this summer's workshop for July 25th and 26th. email kit@kitfrost.com to register. There is limited space left in the workshop.

I did see some brook cress along the creeks on the way from Durango to Silverton, at Lime Creek especially. And a friend reported that the lily ponds are blooming at the Spud Lake trailhead. If you've only got this weekend to go out and play then I'd choose the West side of the La Plata Mountains outside of Mancos.

By the way, the waterfalls are flowing beautifully. Check out Mineral and Ice Creeks just off Mineral Creek Road 2 miles north west of Silverton. Walk up creek and explore. Photographing creek falls requires a tripod and in my humble opinion a cloudy moment.

Waterfalls report, May 2009

The spring runoff in Colorado is beautiful.  We scouted the Waterfalls between Durango and Silverton and then northwest to Mineral Creek.  All the waterfalls are clear of snow and flowing like crazy.  Watch out for using too slow a shutter speed as the result will be "blown out" highlights.  Adjust your ISO to get shutter speeds like 1/30 - 1/60 of a second; your water will have texture and movement.  I love how the water "sprays" this time of year.  Be careful and wear good hiking boots that will grip the slick trails around the falls.  I'll be teaching Waterfall photography on June 20th.  Join us for the day!  Call 970-946-9727 to register, or email kit@kitfrost.com

Wildflower Report, May 2009

I scouted the west side of the La Platas yesterday. It's early spring with a beautiful display of larkspur and dandelions. The purple and yellow look stunning together. As you go out and explore, put opposite colors in the composition: yellow and purple, blue and orange, red and green. I'm gonna chase some waterfalls this week too. I'll keep you informed. Please let me know when and where you are seeing wildflowers blooming.  Our Wildflower Photography workshops begin July 11, 2009. Email kit@kitfrost.com to register.

Creating a Sun Star in your Photos

When you're standing in the woods and the sun is low and shining through trees, it's a great opportunity to practice photographing "sun stars".  Set your aperture to a small opening, say f22-32 and let the camera meter choose the shutter speed (use Aperture Priority Mode-AV).  And, of course, a tripod is essential for composition and to give you shutter speed freedom (SSF)!