My dad always talked about how much he loved autumn in Colorado. He taught me how to use a camera and as a kid we would go up to the mountains about this time each year and take photos of some beautiful foliage. Perhaps it is fitting that he passed away during this month, some six years ago now and I was told that his last words were remarks about how beautiful the trees were outside his hospital window.
After he passed away, I decided to give his camera equipment to my daughter, but she seemed uninterested and I have been looking for ways for us to reconnect ever since. My son and I have lots more in common and she is at that age (20) where she is not sure what she wants to be doing with her life and where I see so much potential yet have some concerns about her choices.
So back in June, after I bought my first truck camper, I was lucky enough to reserve the only spot available at the time at the Silver Queen Campground near Maroon Bells for Tuesday, September 23rd. Our plan was to drive from where I live near Denver to Aspen (about 3.5 hours) and take photos along the way.
As soon as we entered the mountains, we remembered what an escape from the doldrums of city life they can be. The scenery was beautiful and the traffic was light. We decided to take Independence Pass to get to our destination, and stopped in Buena Vista to get a shot of the Collegiate Peaks:
My daughter seemed curious about the prison in Buena Vista, remarking about the beautiful view that the prisoners wake up to each morning. I said that must be torture for them to see the beauty all around them and know that they can't explore it freely. We drove through town and then headed north toward Independence Pass.
A coworker of mine took his truck camper over Independence Pass last weekend and so I was asking him about his experiences. He is one of those extreme adventurous types who kayaks the rapids, helicopter skis and climbs tall mountains so if he says something is a little nerve wracking, I try to calibrate it to my more cautious style of adventuring. So when he told me there were some white knuckle moments on the drive, my ears perked up.
As I went over the pass I was wondering what the heck he was talking about, though. Sure there were some switchbacks and steep climbs, but nothing worse than I had navigated before. When I started the descent, however, I gained a bit more insight into what he was talking about! There were some pretty narrow corners and I was glad that there was no oncoming traffic with my truck camper as I tried to hug the mountainside to give unseen vehicles coming the other way some room to pass.
We arrived in Aspen and had a nice (expensive!) lunch at a seafood restaurant. My daughter was in awe, commenting about "how wealthy" people around there looked. It was my opportunity to suggest to her that while this may be true, appearances can be deceiving and I started talking about stories in the book "The Millionaire Next Door" and that sort of stuff. We enjoyed the lunch and then headed over briefly to the free Aspen Art Museum and learned all about the art pieces there.
Around 4PM, we drove to the Maroon Bells, our destination, and scoped it out prior to the photo session we would have the next morning. Our campsite was in a beautiful wooded area, though it was not really suited for campers as there was only a slanted driveway off the road. I made the camper as level as I could with the jacks and we were ready to settle in for the night.
I woke up at 3AM the next morning, a bit uncomfortable because it was too warm. The night before, I asked my daughter to set the thermostat on the furnace at 65 but when I checked it after I got out of bed it was set to be much warmer. Hmm.
I made my morning coffee and went out to use the restroom while it was still dark. The stars were amazing. Around 6AM I started to hear cars driving toward the Maroon Bells and figured that we had better get going. We arrived there about 6:30 and there were already only a few parking spots left.
The gentleman at the parking area was kind enough to park me in a nice, flat and grassy spot as I told him that we might be in be camper for a brief time after our photo shoot. We walked the trail to Maroon Lake and were once again in awe of the beauty of the place. There were dozens of photographers jockeying for position and we found a nice point to setup our gear.
The air was a little breezy but we did our best to get in some good shots. The people there were very interesting and I learned all sorts of new techniques to try in future photo shoots. I noticed that my daughter had somehow managed to set the camera to overexpose every shot and so I tried to help her fiddle with that while I continued to work with my own camera. The photos at sunrise were a bit so-so and so we decided to wait to see if conditions improved. Around 9AM, we were rewarded with calm and still waters and we were able to capture some beautiful shots:
It may sound corny, but I sometimes get the feeling that if a person is living right, good things just seem to happen to them. There is really no way of explaining how we were fortunate enough to have reserved that particular night months earlier, especially considering that the weather was poor the day before and that we were blessed with superb timing for shooting the fall colors. It is a reminder for me to be grateful when these opportunities present themselves.
There were many other oddities we experienced that morning such as a bride who arrived in her wedding gown, with photographer and lighting technician in tow, pushing their way directly in the line of site of several other photographers in order to capture her image before the beautiful scene. Another woman was dressed in full flyfishing waders even though the water was only inches deep and when I continued to watch her I noticed that she was being filmed for some sort of Women of Flyfishing advertisement. So the trip also became a lesson in imagery and how all things are not as they appear, a perfect segue to our experiences in the city of Aspen the day before.
Afterwards, we began to finish packing up the camper. My daughter asked me how the dishwasher worked in the camper and so I had to break it to her that we had to do the dishes in the old fashioned way. She took it upon herself to do all the dishes, we grabbed a couple sodas out of the camper and in a short time we were headed on the road home.
We went over Independence Pass going the other direction and I was better prepared since I knew what to expect. The view was awesome:
As we passed Twin Lakes, I had to stop and take a photo of the clear lake views:
After lunch in Leadville, we decided to head back straight through (no photo stops) so that we could get back home in time to watch my son's football game.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her and am glad to have found a new photography buddy. The truck camper is what allowed us to stay in Aspen so cheaply and comfortably in the cold mountain evenings, while still being within close proximity of a very popular photography destination.
I hope you all enjoy the fall!
After he passed away, I decided to give his camera equipment to my daughter, but she seemed uninterested and I have been looking for ways for us to reconnect ever since. My son and I have lots more in common and she is at that age (20) where she is not sure what she wants to be doing with her life and where I see so much potential yet have some concerns about her choices.
So back in June, after I bought my first truck camper, I was lucky enough to reserve the only spot available at the time at the Silver Queen Campground near Maroon Bells for Tuesday, September 23rd. Our plan was to drive from where I live near Denver to Aspen (about 3.5 hours) and take photos along the way.
As soon as we entered the mountains, we remembered what an escape from the doldrums of city life they can be. The scenery was beautiful and the traffic was light. We decided to take Independence Pass to get to our destination, and stopped in Buena Vista to get a shot of the Collegiate Peaks:
My daughter seemed curious about the prison in Buena Vista, remarking about the beautiful view that the prisoners wake up to each morning. I said that must be torture for them to see the beauty all around them and know that they can't explore it freely. We drove through town and then headed north toward Independence Pass.
A coworker of mine took his truck camper over Independence Pass last weekend and so I was asking him about his experiences. He is one of those extreme adventurous types who kayaks the rapids, helicopter skis and climbs tall mountains so if he says something is a little nerve wracking, I try to calibrate it to my more cautious style of adventuring. So when he told me there were some white knuckle moments on the drive, my ears perked up.
As I went over the pass I was wondering what the heck he was talking about, though. Sure there were some switchbacks and steep climbs, but nothing worse than I had navigated before. When I started the descent, however, I gained a bit more insight into what he was talking about! There were some pretty narrow corners and I was glad that there was no oncoming traffic with my truck camper as I tried to hug the mountainside to give unseen vehicles coming the other way some room to pass.
We arrived in Aspen and had a nice (expensive!) lunch at a seafood restaurant. My daughter was in awe, commenting about "how wealthy" people around there looked. It was my opportunity to suggest to her that while this may be true, appearances can be deceiving and I started talking about stories in the book "The Millionaire Next Door" and that sort of stuff. We enjoyed the lunch and then headed over briefly to the free Aspen Art Museum and learned all about the art pieces there.
Around 4PM, we drove to the Maroon Bells, our destination, and scoped it out prior to the photo session we would have the next morning. Our campsite was in a beautiful wooded area, though it was not really suited for campers as there was only a slanted driveway off the road. I made the camper as level as I could with the jacks and we were ready to settle in for the night.
I woke up at 3AM the next morning, a bit uncomfortable because it was too warm. The night before, I asked my daughter to set the thermostat on the furnace at 65 but when I checked it after I got out of bed it was set to be much warmer. Hmm.
I made my morning coffee and went out to use the restroom while it was still dark. The stars were amazing. Around 6AM I started to hear cars driving toward the Maroon Bells and figured that we had better get going. We arrived there about 6:30 and there were already only a few parking spots left.
The gentleman at the parking area was kind enough to park me in a nice, flat and grassy spot as I told him that we might be in be camper for a brief time after our photo shoot. We walked the trail to Maroon Lake and were once again in awe of the beauty of the place. There were dozens of photographers jockeying for position and we found a nice point to setup our gear.
The air was a little breezy but we did our best to get in some good shots. The people there were very interesting and I learned all sorts of new techniques to try in future photo shoots. I noticed that my daughter had somehow managed to set the camera to overexpose every shot and so I tried to help her fiddle with that while I continued to work with my own camera. The photos at sunrise were a bit so-so and so we decided to wait to see if conditions improved. Around 9AM, we were rewarded with calm and still waters and we were able to capture some beautiful shots:
It may sound corny, but I sometimes get the feeling that if a person is living right, good things just seem to happen to them. There is really no way of explaining how we were fortunate enough to have reserved that particular night months earlier, especially considering that the weather was poor the day before and that we were blessed with superb timing for shooting the fall colors. It is a reminder for me to be grateful when these opportunities present themselves.
There were many other oddities we experienced that morning such as a bride who arrived in her wedding gown, with photographer and lighting technician in tow, pushing their way directly in the line of site of several other photographers in order to capture her image before the beautiful scene. Another woman was dressed in full flyfishing waders even though the water was only inches deep and when I continued to watch her I noticed that she was being filmed for some sort of Women of Flyfishing advertisement. So the trip also became a lesson in imagery and how all things are not as they appear, a perfect segue to our experiences in the city of Aspen the day before.
Afterwards, we began to finish packing up the camper. My daughter asked me how the dishwasher worked in the camper and so I had to break it to her that we had to do the dishes in the old fashioned way. She took it upon herself to do all the dishes, we grabbed a couple sodas out of the camper and in a short time we were headed on the road home.
We went over Independence Pass going the other direction and I was better prepared since I knew what to expect. The view was awesome:
As we passed Twin Lakes, I had to stop and take a photo of the clear lake views:
After lunch in Leadville, we decided to head back straight through (no photo stops) so that we could get back home in time to watch my son's football game.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with her and am glad to have found a new photography buddy. The truck camper is what allowed us to stay in Aspen so cheaply and comfortably in the cold mountain evenings, while still being within close proximity of a very popular photography destination.
I hope you all enjoy the fall!
work2fish wrote:I would actually, disagree with your conclusion and allow me to explain why.
That said, I think it makes sense to gradually move into less popular areas and it is my hope that my daughter will see the promise of branching out and exploring photography topics that really push a person's creativity, in part because they are out of the ordinary.
Cheers,
Mike
Like your daughter, my son showed a distinct eye for photography at an early age. I gave him some of my manual cameras to start with. (Yes, it was that long ago) So it was harder and steeper learning curve with film. One of the things we would do, would go to areas to find the โspecialโ shot in what would appear simple. To be honest, anyone can take great pictures at places like the Snake River Overlook in the Tetons or Maroon Bells, outside of Aspen. I did the opposite and challenged my son by taking him down to the Denver Public Library area to work on composition. We looked for contrasting lines, colors, as well as depth of field. We went to places like the Boulder Mall or many of the different Boulder Creek Festivals and captured images of the people and scenes. It stretched his abilities in many ways. By the time he was a Senior in High School he was an award winning photographer and won two photo equipment grants for his High School, allowing him to use this equipment exclusively for his Senior year in Photography. Working hard and being challenged made him a better photographer.
The following is a picture I took of my sonโs tent, outside of my truck camper. We were boondocking beside a river. Nothing iconic or special about the location. But judge the picture below, as to whether a scene can be found in a less than special place. Especially when the Forest Fires were obscuring most of the landscape photos at the time.
Or just a bunch of trees, obscured by forest fire smoke
Or just the inside of the State Capitol of Idaho
b
