The Telluride Collection
My family and I made Telluride home in 2017. It didn’t take long for me to realize this is a photographer’s playground. And since then these mountains, this valley, and surrounding areas have become some of my favorite muses. Photographing this area has become therapy. It is my sincere hope that you enjoy these as much as I do!
Photo Therapy
Both the image above and to the right are the results of what I refer to as photo therapy. The concept is pretty simple. I head out with an image in mind and a willingness to experiment until I get the image I hoped for…or a Bob Ross like “happy little accident”. The photo above is of the Telluride Valley from near the end of the runway at the Telluride Airport. It was taken on Earth Day of 2020. We were still in “lock down” during the COVID Pandemic. I was tired of sitting at home and needed to be outside. There was a beautiful cloud inversion that moring, so I drove up Last Dollar Road and waited for it burn off. The image you see is the result of several different attempts to compose it in a way that captured the light rays through the clouds and the wispy remnants of the inversion. The Milky Way photo featured here is the result of a night I knew the “heart” of the Milky Way would be visible. It started as a bit of glamour shoot for my new truck. It quickly turned into panoramas of the ski area with the Milky Way above it. I was having the best time experimenting with techniques that another local photographer taught me. My vantage point for the aforementioned valley photo is visible adjacent to the glowing red fence in the Milky Way photo.
Mystic Falls
In the late 1800s Nikola Tesla developed the concept of Alternating Current electricity. His employer Thomas Edison wasn’t a huge fan. At the same time LL Nunn was funding mining operations in the basins above Telluride. Knowing he needed power for his mines that required long runs of power cables he contacted Tesla and paid him for the tech. The very first AC power plant ever built sits in Ames, on the outskirts of Telluride. A short hike from that very power plant is Mystic Falls. But finding it is not for the faint of heart. Most folks have to be shown how to find it.
Mystic Falls in Color
Every photo I shoot starts in color. I edit for color and then take a look at a black and white version. There are times when I go out with Black and White in mind. Such was this case here with the shot of Mystic Falls. I knew I wanted the Black and White and the result is exactly what I wanted. That said, I edited for color first and frankly I love them both equally…
