During the middle of our summer vacation, I got an e-mail from Andy Follett, a long-time friend of ours from Vermont. Andy told me he was coming out west as part of his project to climb to the highest point of each state. He was going to start his trip with Mt. Wheeler in New Mexico, and asked if I wanted to join him on Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado. Of course I said yes, and I drove down the night before to meet him in the tiny town of Twin Lakes, Colorado. The next morning we woke up before the dawn and drove out to the trailhead. The sun was just rising as we drove our jeep down the 4WD road to the trailhead. The aspens, just at the peak of their fall color, glowed in the early morning light. Although I took many dramatic mountain pictures later in the day, this early morning shot became my favorite image of the week.
Aspens in the Morning
Fujifilm X-T2, Fujinon XF 18-55 f/2.8-4 R LM OIS at 21mm, f/5.6 at 1/60, ISO 800.
I’ll be posting more stories and images from our Mount Elbert climb in the next few months. Stay tuned!
Digital Darkroom. I started with Fujichrome Velvia film emulation. This was a no-brainer, since I have always loved foliage shot with this film. I then did a bunch of small adjustments to exposure (+0.69), contrast (+25), highlights (-41), shadows (-7), whites (-40), and blacks (-7). How did I get to these numbers? I wanted to brighten the image up (increasing exposure), but then had to dial back on the bright areas (highlights and whites). Decreasing blacks and shadows were to give greater contrast of the black spots on the tree bark against the white. I ended by increasing clarity and correcting for a small vignette.
WIRR stands for Weekly Image Rich Ruh. This regular feature on Das Has von Ruh will show and describe my favorite photo created during this weekly period. My weeks start on Mondays, as does the WIRR. I’m hoping to include commentary on the story, the setting, the specs, or the sentiments, depending on the circumstances.
Das Haus von Ruh 