Blue Mesa Reservoir

Took a little road trip last weekend to pay a long overdue visit to mountain man Josh Futterman in his new stomping grounds of Crested Butte. He advised me to try to get to Blue Mesa Reservoir west of Gunnison in time to shoot sunset, offering the work of Dave Kozlowski on Instagram as proof that it would be worth the effort.

As usual, he didn't steer me wrong. :)

The only problem was he didn't tell me exactly where along the 15-mile-long reservoir would be a good spot to shoot.  And it was a bit of a race against the clock as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky.  I settled on the Old Stevens picnic area, scrambled to get my camera gear together and started shooting.

I've been trying to get better at looking in directions other than where I think the action is to find unexpected glimpses of beauty, like this desolate scene of dead grass and wind-carved snow.

I got down to the water just in time -- maybe five minutes before the sun dropped below the horizon.  But that was exactly the right time to be there.

No color adjustments on this one.  Once the sun had set, the reservoir really did take on a very blue hue.

Heading back east I decided to stop one more time at the Cooper Ranch picnic area to see if the Gunnison River had anything to offer in the rapidly fading light.  It did. :)

Speaking of blue.  The temperature of the scene did match the actual temperature nicely.  It was getting pretty cold now that the sun was down.

One last silhouette of a dormant cottonwood against the western sky, and it was time to head to Crested Butte and a much-needed dinner.  But definitely a great start to what would hopefully be a wonderful weekend!