Monet's garden

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 16, 2011366 views23 comments

This was shot two days after the previous post from the same area in the San Juan Mountains, CO. The cold snap transformed the already brilliant aspen groves into swaths of color and the fresh snow punctuated the conifers. This was one of the most strikingly beautiful landscapes I've ever had the privelege of witnessing- it truly took my breath away. Thanks for looking.

Comments

23 comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on October 16, 2011 at 6:12 PM

This is breathtaking. The large version is mesmerizing. Thanks for posting this.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on October 16, 2011 at 6:29 PM

Wow, spectacular. Truly impressive.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Smorra on October 16, 2011 at 6:57 PM

Wow! This is cool. The contrast between the white snow on the conifers and the yellow/orange leaves is striking.

Registered on November 2, 2009, 161 Posts, 2143 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on October 16, 2011 at 8:39 PM

Wow, that's pretty cool. The snow-covered conifers add a whole 'nother dimension.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on October 16, 2011 at 8:50 PM

Pretty amazing scene, Robb! That may be the last snow the area gets for a while--its looking pretty dry for the rest of this month...
There's something about the presentation/processing that bugs me here, but i cant quite put my finger on it--could be the sharpening or maybe just web compression. Fascinating shot, though!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Jack Brauer on October 16, 2011 at 11:00 PM

Soooo beautiful!!!!

Registered on September 12, 2005, 40 Posts, 627 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on October 17, 2011 at 12:12 AM

Wow! This is nice, but the abstracts within this abstract would be just incredible! Did you have a longer lens? I've never seen this before in my life...only in pictures.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on October 17, 2011 at 1:33 AM

What a delightful magic carpet, Robb! I would love to see this classic Colorado tapestry some day, truly special!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on October 17, 2011 at 6:08 AM

Very beautiful scene. Love the mix of snow and those colors.

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Soubhik Patranabis on October 17, 2011 at 10:26 AM

Nice one ..

Registered on January 25, 2010, 54 Posts, 610 Comments

Comment posted by Russell Colletta on October 17, 2011 at 10:34 AM

Beautiful indeed Robb. Great moment captured well.

Registered on October 31, 2009, 114 Posts, 1008 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Schwarz on October 17, 2011 at 10:50 AM

Beautiful shot. You were at the right place at the right time.

Registered on November 29, 2006, 236 Posts, 1210 Comments

Comment posted by Gino Cortez on October 17, 2011 at 1:06 PM

Beautiful colors and mesmerizing patterns!

Registered on November 23, 2010, 57 Posts, 396 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on October 17, 2011 at 4:31 PM

I love the mixture of snow and autumn color - beautiful capture.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on October 17, 2011 at 11:23 PM

That was one sweet and sour storm! Lots of cool details here, Robb. The color palette is awesome.

Registered on July 26, 2007, 244 Posts, 2807 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Hackett on October 17, 2011 at 11:24 PM

A real eye catcher! I thought I saw something like this in an earlier post and I was right. Check out Richie Grahams post a few days ago. I think the contrast in both photo's give a strange kind of illusion.

Registered on January 12, 2008, 71 Posts, 192 Comments

Comment posted by Sarah Marino on October 18, 2011 at 1:25 AM

Robert - I was in the San Juans during this storm and this image captures the feeling of the scene perfectly. I think that your processing looks good and I really like the composition. One small comment - If this were mine, I think I would brighten the snow on the trees in the background. Otherwise, this is wonderful.

Registered on November 10, 2008, 23 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on October 18, 2011 at 2:46 AM

Robb,

It is not easy to create a composition that is so cohesive and well balanced in this type of landscape photography. This is outstanding vision. Great capture!

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on October 18, 2011 at 4:45 PM

Print it BIG! A great mix of color, textures, and you put them together very well.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Guy Manning on October 18, 2011 at 5:32 PM

I feel the image is well seen and you might play with cropping in a bunch of different ways. I agree with Stan Rose that something is amiss though. For me, it is that the whites are blocked up, or down in this case.

If you can control the luminance to a higher value this image might start to sparkle a bit more. With snow on the branches of the other trees, doing so will brighten the whole image up and make it less gloomy.

As I first viewed it I thought the evergreens were burnt.

Registered on October 17, 2011, 13 Posts, 44 Comments

Comment posted by Robb Hirsch on October 18, 2011 at 7:24 PM

Thanks for all of the comments. Yes this will get printed large, just sent the file off to WCI for our gallery.

Marc, this was shot at about 100mm with a 70-200. I also captured several images at longer focal lengths. In an effort to choose one image to print large for our gallery and so as not to bore all of you with several similar images, this one felt like it best captured the feeling, expanse and diversity of colors and tones in the aspens. No doubt lots of other fine compositions in there.

Michael, good eye, Richie is a good friend and was shooting with me on that day.

Stan, Guy and Sarah, thanks for the processing comments, that is certainly not the strongest component of my photography.

Registered on February 15, 2011, 16 Posts, 70 Comments

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on October 18, 2011 at 11:16 PM

Absolutely Astonishing photograph! Print it big and enjoy.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on October 19, 2011 at 2:40 AM

Very beautiful scene, must have been great to witness in person.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments