Maroon Bells Secrets

It had been a goal of mine to shoot Maroon Bells at peak color in the Fall for  years.  Last year, I decided to finally pull the trigger and do it.  I called the Park Service every day for weeks... "How's the color?"  "How's the color?"  "How's the color?  Is it peak yet?"  For weeks.  Finally, one morning when I called the poor, beleaguered ranger said, "YES... it's PEAK.  STOP CALLING US!"  :)

I hopped on a plane from DFW, and arrived at Denver, rented a car, and made the long drive over to Aspen for a 3-day stay.

On Day 1, I went up to Maroon Bells early in the morning to scope it out, see where I wanted to set up the next morning, and get the lay of the land.  I watched how the sun behaved all day... where it hit... where it set... where the shadows were.  

On Day 2, the morning of the shoot, I had hired a local ski bum to drive me up to the parking lot of Maroon Bells at 5:30 in the morning.  It was COLD... I was so glad I had my extra-warm winter down parka and gloves... it would have been miserable without them.

The pitch-black sky was spectacular with stars... with the looming mountain just visible in the dark in the distance.  There was no light pollution at all, and I've never seen stars that bright.  The air was crisp and clear and utterly exhilarating.  I was shocked to find, once I had made the short hike from the parking lot, that there were about 25 other photographers already set up.

I set up in the spot I had chosen from the previous day, and settled in for what was going to be a long wait.  

As I experimented with my exposure, I remembered that the camera can see light with much more sensitivity than the human eye... so when I saw a slight lighting of the sky on the lower left horizon, and adjusted my exposure, I started capturing.  Minor tweaks followed, but nothing major.  

The other photographers were genuinely curious as to what I was photographing... since to their eye, it was still dark.  I explained to them about the camera's sensitivity to light, but I could tell they still didn't really believe me.  That is, until one of them came down to see what I was capturing. 

When he saw the back of my camera, his jaw dropped, and he started stuttering... "h-h-h-how?"  I said, "Now do you believe me?"  

I was finished with what I wanted and packed up before the sun even broke over the mountain... I knew that once that happened, half the valley would be in shadow, and the other hand would be blown out in highlights...  by 8:00am, there were over 200 photographers grappling for position.  I just smiled, knowing that I already had what I came for... and headed down the mountain.