Eldorado Canyon, June 2014: Part I

Got up at 4 a.m. yesterday to join Steve Gandy on a photo workshop in Eldorado Canyon State Park to shoot the early morning light on the rock walls -- another "mind over mattress" excursion.  If you want to shoot in special light, you've got to be willing to get up or come home in the dark.

I usually enjoy the twilight period just before the sun rises.  The indirect light can reveal interesting sights like the color and pattern atop this crag.

Lots of texture in the canyon, too.

While the sunrise itself wasn't technically our objective on this trip, if I've got the opportunity to shoot one I'm absolutely going to try and do so.  I was afraid we were going to be too deep into the canyon to see it, but just a short distance down the Fowler Trail we were rewarded with a warm, golden sky.

As the sun rose above the horizon, star bursts crept around the edge of the canyon wall.

Wind Tower on the left, The Bastille on the right.  And a bright, golden ball of beauty in between.

This was definitely an exercise in contrast, with bright sun and deep shadow present in nearly every view.  What I didn't notice when I was originally taking this shot was the climber up top, who clearly got an even earlier start than I had.

I really liked the multiple layers of rock in this view.

Tall trees and even taller rocks.  And if you look really closely, you can see barely make out our little climber friend near the top again.

Similar view to the one with the layers earlier, but this crop puts the emphasis more on the lines in the sandstone cliffs formed during the uplift of the Front Range.

Click here for Part II.