Last week, we were in southwest Colorado to photograph fall color. It had been four years since we visited this area and we were excited to return. It’s one of my favorite areas to photograph at this time of year because each year offers something different. These two images of Wilson Peak (taken from about the same position) capture many of the differences between our 2006 trip and this one. The upper image was taken on September 29, 2006; the lower one was taken on October 1, 2010. In 2006, the weather was more typical for Colorado and, as a result, more of the Aspen had changed color. An early snowstorm provided a bonus in the form of a covering of white on the peak. I framed the image tightly to include as little blank blue sky as possible. This year was warmer and drier than usual. Not as many of the Aspen had changed color and the color, while still spectacular, was not as vibrant as in the past. This year’s bonus came in the form of some cirrus clouds that provided interest in the sky, making it possible to frame the peak more loosely.

“If you can’t fix it, feature it.”

– Gerald M. Weinberg
The Secrets of Consulting

I ran across this quote during my career as a consultant in software engineering, but it has actually had more relevance to my photography. We’re in Acadia National Park this week. On the way here, I had visions of misty costal scenes and warm morning light on the costal cliffs. What I had this morning was a nor’easter on its way in. Clearly, I couldn’t fix that so I decided to feature it. I wanted to produce an image that captured the feel of the ominous skies and the pounding, wind-driven waves crashing against the rocks. The image above was processed from a single, well-exposed file. After processing it in Lightroom, I went to Photoshop and added a Curves Adjustment Layer with a mask to darken just the sky.

We recently returned from a week of photographing in the Tetons. It had been eight or nine years since I was at Schwabacher’s Landing to photograph the classic reflection of the Grand Teton. The changes were incredible!  The beaver dam that created the reflecting pool is taller so the water level in the reflecting pool is much higher. It’s high enough to encroach on the trees along the far shore as well as submerge some great places to set up a tripod. The trees are also much taller. In addition, there are now two newer beaver dams below the original one.

Change is inevitable and it often brings new opportunities. In this case, the pond created by the lowest beaver dam captures some great reflections of the Teton Range. The image above is from the channel upstream from the usual spot. The higher water level has widened the channel and there are some great reflections along that channel as well.