Your money at work
Itinerary and what you'll learn
This is the information for what to expect along with our planned Itinerary
Before I start, be aware that locations are always subject to change, due to either weather conditions or Summer crowds or other reasons, so flexibility is a must on this, besides this makes it part of an adventure. Also though July is mid summer, spring time snows can last well into the summer, depending on how much snow we get in spring. With that in mind some of the high mountain passes might still be closed. The chances of that happening are slim, but it was a common theme in the summer of 2019. There is still a high likelihood that one or more mountain passes are closed due to rock/mud slides, this happens at a very high frequency. Also Last Dollar Road can become impassable after heavy rains so alternative routes might be needed. Regardless of access to planned routes, I will have plenty of places we can visit if the planned routes do not pan out. To show you all areas would take weeks, so I planned a decent mix of locations that will still provide for the utmost eyecandy.
Summer weather in Colorado usually starts the day with clear skies and ends partly cloudy, expect at least one thunderstorm each and every afternoon. As we reach the end of July, the monsoon season begins where the afternoons and evenings have a tendency to be cloudy and stormy with the mornings being partly cloudy early and clearing later in the morning. I have timed the Adventures to allow for maximum accessibility in the high country with the beginning of the Monsoon season. Every year is different though, and the last two years we never actually experienced a monsoon. I also timed our Photo Adventures for peak wildflower season in the mountains. Again wildflowers can be very fleeting. 2016 and 2017 had spectacular wildflowers while 2018 was abysmal and 2019 was ok. Alot of the wildflower conditions is dependent on spring and early summer moisture, too little and we won't have a good year, too much also will hurt. So far winter 2019/2020 is average to slightly above average so hopefully that trend will continue. I will provide regular updates to you through emails about any changes in conditions and forecasts for the wildflowers. Just be aware that weather can change in a very short period of time. Even if we have an amazing spring doesn't mean that we can't fall under drought conditions in Summer, and vice versa. I am also planning this in mid July to have a better chance of having good clouds during both sunrise and sunset, but I can not guarantee these conditions, I do not control the weather. There is also the risk of being completely rained out one or more evenings, so keep that in mind, if that happens we will concentrate on shooting more intimate landscapes. If any mountains peak out from clouds that just makes the moment so much better, cross your fingers
July is also peak tourist season, so expect lots of crowds. I would love to choose a different time of year, but too early and the mountain passes are not accessible and too late in the summer there will not be any flowers. July is too hot in the lower elevations for wildflowers and August the alpine environment starts turning to Autumn like conditions and does not look as lush and green as it does in July. Besides as hot as July is in the lower elevations, I felt that a July in the mountains is a great reprieve from that intense heat, just ask any Texan that you will be guaranteed to encounter.
Make sure your camera gear also has some form of rain protectant. Don't want a waterlogged camera, that won't be fun.
Since we will be camping, vehicle parking will be limited, thus my desire to promote car pooling if at all possible. I would rather not see 5 different vehicles in one location, this also goes with the mountain passes. If more than one camping sight is needed I can work that out. There are significant options for camping in the region so we are not limited to just one campground. If you are planning on driving to Colorado and pulling a RV of any kind, they are definitely not able to be driven on any of the mountain passes outside of the major highways, as they are too narrow, steep and with sharp switchbacks. You'll have to find a way to set up prior to the Photo Adventures.
Above are some of the Intimate landscape opportunities that might be available around the region along with the types of flowers that might be growing
With the wildflowers at peak in the mountains, it will be a perfect opportunity to learn about DOF or Depth of Field and proper focusing from front to back (hyperfocal distance), we will also learn how to do focus stacking for those extreme cases, you know, getting up close and personal with the flowers showing their detail while having the mountain peaks in the distance still sharp. Narrow depth of field will give us the opportunity for experimentation with our photo compositions. In addition to learning about new photography techniques or improving on your already existing knowledge and skills, you will be learning a lot about the region's history and geology. The San Juan Mountains have had quite an interesting and unique history far beyond the extensive mining. Also due to it's large size and complex geology it has had quite the extensive geological history.
Each and every day we will go over our photos on our cameras reviewing what everyone shot and why they took that photo, plus any errors or improvements in compositions and exposures. The last day of the Photo Adventures will be the editing day. We will spend several hours at our final location working on bringing those RAW files into amazing works of art from our week of shooting the spectacular scenery. THis is where a laptop powerful enough to handle Lightroom and Photoshop will be needed. Even after the Photo Adventure has ended, the adventure itself does not. I will give access to a private group on social media (Facebook is the most likely even though I am NOT a fan of the site, or we can go to another one that might be better). My website also has access to private communications. This private group will provide us with the ability to share more of our photos taken during the 8 days plus feedback. You can also share on your personal experiences, and suggestions for future Adventures, you will also receive a special rate for any future Photo Adventures which will most certainly occur.
Meal Plan
You are responsible for your own meals. Most of the time our meals will be in the field or at our campsite so don't take anything complicated to make, in the field I highly recommend plain ole sandwiches. On the occasion that we are in one of the towns we will stop in a restaurant. We can decide together which ones to visit or we can go our separate ways. You are still responsible for these meals
I will provide snacks and water and instant coffee for on the go, I also have two different stoves, one a regular camp stove and another one is a backpacking stove that we can use. I will provide the utensils and cups for cold drinks. Snacks will include granola bars, protein bars, chips, also snacks for the campfires such as S'mores items and hot cocoa, these items can also be had any time of day.
Our sunrise shooting will probably occur prior to any breakfast so a small snack will be a good idea until we are completed with the shoot and head back to camp or to a town for breakfast. The shooting locations in the Telluride region will be quite far from any restaurants so meals in the campground are the likely scenario. Molas Lake and Trout Lake have picnic areas so we can have meals there as well. For any periods that we are in town and you decide to go your own way, or if you decide not to go camping you will be responsible for returning to each agreed upon designated meeting location on time. Also all shooting will begin promptly
July 11, 2020
we will start the workshop off in the town of Ridgway at 9AM at the Ouray County 4H Events Center on the south side of town. Where we will make our introductions and find out where everyone is at with their photography skills and what their goal is to get out of the Photo Adventure. Please bring your camera gear and laptop/tablet with you. We will start promptly at 9 AM as there will be tons of stuff to go over and do this first day. If you are late you will miss out on a lot, so being punctual is important. After our classroom session and prior to heading out to our first shoot we will have a meal at the True Grit Cafe. It is a classic western American style cafe or "cowboy cuisine" as they call it. It was one of the filming locations of John Wayne's True Grit
Ouray County 4H Event Center
22739 US-550
Ridgway, CO 81432
Hours
July 11, 2020 9 AM
and
July 18th after morning shoot to 5 PM
Afternoon July 11th Velocity Basin
We will be headed to our first photo shoot location for evening and sunset shooting. We will travel over Corkscrew Pass to an overlook of Velocity Basin. Located just below Gray Copper Gulch. This is best as a sunset location. Below is a map from Photographers Ephemeris showing sunrise and sunset. This is an easy but steep 4 wheel drive road with periods of exposure, let me know if you have a fear of heights
These maps are downloadable, click on maps to get to the downloads
At this location we will attempt to use layering for compositional elements, also using rocks and other natural objects for leading lines. There are no rivers or other bodies of water here so no easy reflection shots here. We will be up here for an extended period of time exploring the area and looking for the perfect compositions. This type of location will provide some excellent challenges to your creative eye.
Sunset for July 11th above: 8:34 PM
After sunset we will head to our first night of camping. I will have the site set aside for us. Provided no fire restrictions are in place we will have a nice campfire and get to know everyone better. S'mores anyone?
The views from our campsite
Day 2
July 12th 2020
Before dawn we will head out to our sunrise location we will need to be at our location about half an hour before sunrise so we can shoot during first light (usually 10 minutes before sunrise), this time at US Basin overlooking the mountains above Ophir Pass. The turnoff is just north of the Ophir Pass turnoff along Highway 550 again this is another easy but steep 4 wheel drive road, but with minimal exposure. This is an extremely high elevation environment and is quite exposed, the winds will more than likely be quite strong so dress accordingly and make sure your tripod is sturdy. We will be shooting towards South Lookout Peak and Ulysses S Grant Peak. Both are well over 13,000 feet in elevation (4000 meters). This location also provides a challenge to the creative eye for compositional elements, there are no streams or rivers, no lakes for reflections. Most of the area is an alpine tundra environment, flowers are going to be very tiny and if anything due to the fragile nature of tundra we will not be going off of any trails or roads, let's see what you can come up with.
These maps are downloadable, click on maps to get to the downloads
That evening we will head back up to Corkscrew Pass area for more shooting of Velocity Basin, but will also include the Red Mountains region above Corkscrew Pass. We will be photographing all the various reds and oranges and yellows of this mountain group. Corkscrew Pass travels between these peaks, there are several overlooks and pulloffs along the mountain pass
Sunrise and sunset times are listed above for July 12th. Sunrise shoots will always start half an hour before actual sunrise. We must be at our sunset locations a minimum of 1 hour prior to sunset. Preferably 2 hours for scouting
Day 3
July 13th 2020
We will start our adventures in the Silverton Region. The first morning will be along Molas Pass for sunrise looking to the north towards Silverton, our actual start time will be half an hour before sunrise to take advantage of first light. There is a large parking lot with bathrooms and a spot with benches at the top of the pass. There are also a couple of ponds in the area to shoot from, or we can shoot from the high point at the benches. There are trails all over the area so there will be lots of places to explore, but please stay on trails and do not walk through any alpine tundra. This has some incredible views of the mountains surrounding the town of Silverton. This location is just off of Highway 550 and no 4X4 is needed.
Molas Pass is at an elevation of 10,900 feet in elevation
These maps are downloadable, click on maps to get to the downloads
Once we are finished shooting we will head to Silverton for the afternoon. We will review photos taken up to this point in the Adventures, where we will also have our lunch in Silverton. Later that evening we will have 3 choices to shoot for sunset, Molas Lake, Molas Pass again or from the Christ of the Mines Shrine just above the town of Silverton. All 3 locations work well for sunset but affords us different views of the Grenadier and Needle Mountains
Needle Mountains from Christ of the Mines Shrine
Silverton and Needles from Christ of the Mines Shrine
Grenadiers from Highway 550 above Molas Lake
Looking east from Christ of the Mines Shrine
One of the ponds below Molas Pass
The Grenadiers from Molas Pass
Fisherman in Molas Lake
Looking back at Silverton from highway 550 below Molas Pass
Silverton and Kendall Mountain from Christ of the Mines Shrine
Again we will spend the night back at South Mineral Creek Campground. If weather cooperates we might take some time shooting the night sky
Day 4
July 14th 2020
We will head back up to Molas Lake for sunrise, this time trying our hands at backlit scenes. We will work on exposure blending where the foreground will be well exposed despite the bright backlit skies. Again we will want to be there a good half hour before sunrise to be ready for first light
Later that afternoon will be our only planned hike for the workshop. We
will park above Molas Lake. There is a small parking lot just above the
lake. From there we will take the Colorado trail to an overlook about
1.8 miles from the parking lot. It is not an exceptionally difficult
trail though the return hike will have a 400 foot elevation gain. The
overlook will afford us some rarely photographed views of the Grenadier
and Needle Mountains as well as the Animas River nearly 2000 feet below
us. Bring flashlights and I'll grab some snacks for us on our short
hike. This is where your physical conditioning comes into play. All maps
below are downloadable. Click on them to view the bigger versions
This will be the last night of camping at South Mineral Creek
Day 5
July 15, 2020
This is where we move to the Telluride region. Most of the time we will be a distance from Telluride, so be prepared with plenty of food and supplies to minimize any trips to the town. We will be starting with sunrise on Ophir Pass. Ophir Pass is a 4 wheel drive cutoff between Silverton and Telluride. It is not an exceptionally difficult road. As a matter of fact the eastern side (Silverton) you can drive it with a passenger car if you are careful. It is the western (Telluride) side that requires a 4 wheel drive. Technically it is not difficult to drive, but has a half mile segment that is considered a shelf road and is passable by only one vehicle at a time. You must make certain no other vehicle is on that stretch before continuing on it. There is also a very sharp switchback just below the summit that might be difficult with larger pickups or SUVs, it may require 3 or more points of turning. Jeeps will have no problem with this switchback. Our sunrise shooting location will be on the wider area just below the switchback and right before the narrow shelf segment. It will afford us some incredible and rarely seen views of the Wilson Massif (14ers Wilson Peak, and Mount Wilson, along with high 13ers Gladstone Peak, Sunshine Peak and Lizard Head Peak). El Diente, the third 14er, is blocked by Mount Wilson and Gladstone). We should not encounter any other people on the road this early in the morning, but be polite and provide passing space for drivers that we might encounter at sunrise regardless if we see anyone else or not, our shooting location is the pulloff for the shelf segment. our actual shooting location will be closer to the narrow segment in order to view the massif. Figure just shy of a 1/4 mile walk to get to this spot, Another reason for having a small group. This location is great for using our telephoto lenses and utilizing the V shaped walls of the valley as framing of the massif, also wide angle lenses can provide the leading line of the valley to the massif, going too wide will make the distant peaks look very small and trust me they are by no means small. After our shoot we will continue to the bottom of the pass into the town of Ophir. If we need to return to Silverton to pick up our campsite then this is the time to do it, but as we drop closer to treeline the wildflowers should become better with views of the mountains surrounding the town of Ophir. The Wilson Massif should be quite prominent most of the way to treeline as well making for tons of opportunities. These peaks will lie to our left (south) as we continue lower into the town of Ophir. To put it mildly, ALL of Ophir Pass provides for some incredible views on both sides
Looking back at Ophir Pass from just below the town of Ophir
After our shooting session. It will be vital to claim a campsite as
soon as possible. I will not be able to have any sights set aside at
this point, we will have 3 or 4 choices for camping in the Telluride
region that have access to restrooms, two of these sights are fully
developed and the other 2 are primitive with just the restrooms,
whichever camping area we decide on we will remain here until the end of
the Adventures. Some of these campsites do not have cell service so
keep that in mind. If push comes to shove I also have a 5th campsite
location in mind, but it is quite distant from Ophir, but makes for
close proximity to Telluride and Last Dollar Road, this site has no
services whatsoever. All these campsites are first come first served.
If you are bringing an RV or travel trailer, you will have to travel
over Highway 550 to Ridgway, then over Highway 62 over Dallas Divide
then onto 145 to the campgrounds. Also, Only 2 of the campgrounds will
be accessible with an RV or trailer plus the 5th last choice alternate. My
goal is to find camping at either Alta Lakes (an easy high clearance,
non 4 wheel drive road). It is a primitive sub alpine campground. The
road is quite narrow in spots so I would not recommend any travel
trailers, though it is doable if you are very careful. The scenery is
incredible and is below a spectacular basin, the top of which is the
highest point on Telluride's ski resort, it also affords views of the
Wilson Massif especially the uniquely shaped Lizard Head Peak.
A Massif is a grouping of mountain peaks, smaller than a
range and generally separate from any mountain range, It is essentially a
mountain mass. The Wilson Massif is part of the San Miguel Mountains
which is a subrange of the San Juan Mountains. The mountains around
Telluride and Ophir are the San Miguel Range.
Alta Lakes is itself a photographers paradise and also has a cool ghost town below the lake. The other goal if not Alta Lakes and only if Alta Lakes is full, is the developed Sunshine Campground off of Highway 145 closer to Mountain Village. It doesn't have the isolated feel though with paved roads and picnic tables and is a paid campground. The nice thing about this campground is that it is immersed in a calming Aspen grove. It still has great views of Wilson Peak and Gladstone Peak. The other options is Priest Lake Campground, another primitive campground below Trout Lake, There is no room for an RV or travel trailer though, tent only here. The last option is the Matterhorn Campground and is a fully developed campground which is the best bet for RVs and trailers, not so good for tents though and is limited in views. July 15th is the middle of the week so it should be much less crowded than if it was the weekend, so I do not suspect much difficulty getting a camping site, if we go at the right time (10-11:00 AM)
This photo shows the view from the Sunshine Campground
Map above showing difference between a massif and a mountain rangeAfter setting up our campsite and having our meals we will head over to the jaw dropping views of Trout Lake, unless you want to stay at Alta Lakes for the evening shoot. I am A-OK with that as well ;-) for sunset. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will have excellent reflections in the lake
Either way we will spend time at Trout Lake and you will not be disappointed
Trout Lake
Day 6
July 16, 2020
This will be another easy day as we will try our hands at Ophir Pass and Trout Lake again. Each time we go to the same location results in the possibility of different lighting and seeing new compositions that we did not see before. We will start the morning back at Ophir Pass and again in the evening back at Trout Lake, we will also take the time to head up to Lizard Head Pass and just beyond it. There we will get unobstructed views of Lizard Head Peak. It is an interesting mountain peak and is considered one of the most dangerous climbs in Colorado. I do not have plans on climbing it nor any other mountain peaks during this Photo Adventure, maybe in a future one.
Again due to the isolation of this area we will not have much access to cell service and no restaurants will be available to us, so having our own food is essential. There is a rather large picnic area on Trout Lake split in two parking areas, each parking area is fairly large and holds several vehicles. Just below Trout Lake on a Forest Service Road is Priest Lake, it is one of the alternate camping areas for us, but there is an easy hike around the lake that we can take during the day. There is a high likelihood that we will see SUP boarders in Trout Lake, this will make for some interesting activity in addition to the scenery.
Day 7
July 17, 2020
This is the day that we head towards Telluride, we will be along the road to the airport for sunrise. We have 2 options for shooting sunrise, one is the first switchback before the airport, the road makes for a nice s shaped leading line to the background. There are a couple old buildings on the right of the road and Wilson Peak is in the distance (10 miles from the location). It is one of my favorite locations to take photos. There is very little space for parking so we will all have to carpool over. There is also private property in the area, so we must be respectful. Also there will be lots of vehicles traveling between highway 145 and the airport so we have to shoot accordingly, but it is a well worthy location.
Our other option is a couple miles past the airport and on Last Dollar Road. We will stop at the leveled area overlooking the San Miguel Mountains including the Wilson Massif. Our 5th camping alternative is located here. At this location we will be shooting across the canyon to Wilson Mesa and will be using our telephoto lenses for this. We will likely find lots of wildflowers in this area as well where we can utilize our wider lenses, but most photos will be taken with a telephoto lens. The distant mountains of Telluride ski resort and the mountains above Ophir and Trout Lake will also be visible and we can shoot them, we will experiment with foreground elements as well as using our telephoto lenses to bring those distant mountains up close. There will be people camping along the cliff so be respectful to the campers. Hopefully we will still have plenty of room to shoot, it is a large area and well spread out including several spots along the road. Last Dollar Road continues past this point as an easy 4 wheel drive road. Later for sunset we will head to the other side of Last Dollar Road for views of the Sneffels Range, we will be on the outside of the famous Last Dollar Ranch. This area is surrounded by private property so again be respectful.
If it has been raining heavily Last Dollar Road will become impassable to only the best offroad vehicles and drivers. To get to Last Dollar Ranch we will have to take the Highways (145 and 62), other than that it is a fun drive over.
During the day we will head to Telluride. We will take a ride on the one-of-a-kind gondola system and also take a short trip to Bridal Veil Falls just past the town. In town we can have lunch there as well as dinner.
Day 8
July 18, 2020
Our last day of the Photo Adventures. We will start the day shooting sunrise at the top of Last Dollar Road. An elevated area at 10,000 feet in elevation looking out towards the Wilson Massif again. This time we will be in between mountain peaks and above a small canyon dropping down rapidly towards the valley below. This spot makes for some great leading lines, curves and v shaped framing, this includes the road that we will have driven up. It is also an open meadow on top that will have quite the abundance of wildflowers. If it has been raining heavily in the day or two prior, this area will not be easily accessible so an alternative will have to be made, but there are tons of other wonderful locations for sunrise if this does not pan out, so be aware of the possibility of change. A normal thunderstorm is not enough to muck up the road, but if there is any heavy thunderstorms which is common in monsoon season, then that will cause issues with the road.
After our sunrise shoot we will head back to Ridgway to our original meeting location. Here we will spend several hours in editing our photos. With each days review of our photos taken we should already have a good idea on how we will want the photos to look. At this point it is all about putting the RAW files into those amazing works of art that we can all be proud of. This is where I will show you how combine the exposure bracketing and focus stacking photos. Plus several different methods of dodging and burning, how to utilize Capture One Pro and Luminar 4 as alternatives to the Adobe suite. We will be here until late in the evening as I am sure there will be quite a few photos to work on I will also be there to answer any other questions you might have as long as they don't have anything to do with brain surgery. After that we will say our goodbyes and head our own way.
After the Photo Adventures I will send out the emails that will provide access to the private group for everyone to share their photos taken and their impressions
Get in touch
but not too touchy. Any questions? Send them my way