|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-26-2015, 02:52 PM
|
| |
Well jeez, thanks guys. Maybe I need to make a part 2. I have a lot of photos from the wolf sanctuary we visited as well!
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-26-2015, 01:53 PM
|
| |
Got to take a roadtrip from NY to Colorado this summer. One of the stops was at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Wanted to share the photos with you guys! Most of these shots were taken with a Pentax K-3, but I was also using a K-R for some shots. Lenses used were the Sigma 18-35 1.8, Pentax FA 100-300, and last but not least a Vivitar series 1 90mm 2.5. The low weight of the k-r and 100-300 made it a great 2nd camera to have on me for the shots that needed range.
We turned onto 150 as the sun was setting. Settling in for the last 20 mile stretch, dusk was rapidly approaching. I was battling the urge to pull over around every new corner and capture the last hint of light in the otherwise shrouded landscape. But with the concern of not knowing if we would be able to get a campsite for the night, I ignored the itch and pressed on. The sun left us as we were still winding down the eerily quiet road, leaving us to imagine what the dunes looked like until morning.
There were no sites available in the park, but there's a privately owned campground conveniently located a few miles down the road and we setup camp there for the night. Coming in on a Monday, we found that we had the campground almost entirely to ourselves. By the time we woke up the next morning, we had already decided we wanted to stay longer. The weather in Colorado that might annoy most people, is great for a photographer. Like clockwork almost every day there were afternoon thunderstorms, painting epic scenes in every direction.
A very short walk from our campsite.
Driving into the park, I stopped to take a classic shot of the climbers looking like ants following the ridges up to the peaks.
Colorado did not seem to be sharing in the plight of some of its western neighbors. Medano Creek, the seasonal stream that sometimes flows at the base of the dunes was going strong.
Closer picture of the Medano Creek with the always modest Rockies in the background.
I could hear the car grumble as I made it turn onto yet another dirt road that looked less than appropriate for a 4cyl Civic, but that was sort of the theme of the trip in essence. After suspensefullly avoiding more than a few potholes and trying to pretend I didn't hear the noises my car just made, we reached the outer parking lot. After that it was a short hike into the Dunes.
One of the greatest things to me about the dunes is simply the scale of the place. It seems so impossible, dunes in Colorado? I still have a hard time believing it's a real place. Once the initial rush of excitement tapered off the first thing we noticed was the noise, or I should say lack there of. It was measured as the quietest National Park in the U.S. so you can contemplate the fact that you're sitting in a dunefield in Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains with nothing but the wind to interrupt your thought. Unless there's a sandstorm of course. That would probably take some of the serenity out of it, though we never saw one during our visit.
That pretty much concludes it, thanks for reading guys. If you're ever in Colorado I would definitely recommend this less popular National Park as a must see.
 |
