WC582Black Bear w/Repost

Impressive "road" image, Scott! That would be an amazing road to travel on and view that scenery. I really like the color shadings of the rust-colored mountains and the front green meadow-like area provides such an interesting contrast. Nice diagonal lines throughout and the road winds nicely through the image. I think I would crop down a bit from the top to help focus more attention on the interesting main parts of the image. It would also be fun to play with the colors in this image in post-processing. . .possibly more saturation/contrast?

At first sight, thought it was an old print with scratches on it... but then realized it was remaining snow in pockets. Lots of interesting lines in this shot, along with the wonderfully pastel colors from the soft lighting. Wondering if a perspective more to the left, to bring the road further into the photo, would be an improvement or not; I'm never certain if these things should be centered or off to the side. Anyway, certainly a beautiful landscape shot.
Jim

Clearly, a perfect day for a photograph. I love the colors. Nice composition and brightness levels.

OK. I give up; Where is the Black Bear?

John, the 'Black Bear' is underground. Black Bear Pass was named after the Black Bear Mine and the road that was built to access it.

John, the 'Black Bear' is underground. Black Bear Pass was named after the Black Bear Mine and the road that was built to access it.

Scott Fricke
Denver, Colorado
www.frickephotography.com

Dude; I understand from your picture how Red Mountain Pass might have acquired its name, OK? But how did Black Bear Pass get its name? You say it was from Black Bear Mine? So there was a pass there before the mine, I guess, but it wasn't called "Black Bear Pass". They found the mine, according to your narrative, and named it "Black Bear Mine" and then subsequently, because of the mine, they named the pass "Black Bear Pass".

OK, that's fine. Then my question would be why Black Bear Mine got that name. Was it just that while they were digging it there was a nosey black bear that kept coming into the camp site? I'm looking for factual information here, not guess-work.

Carolyn, thanks for the suggestions, here is a repost. I originally kept the top of the image in to show the low clouds and give a better feel for the conditions, but purely from a compositional perspective I think you are right. I do like this version quite a bit more.

Jim, the different perspective you recommend would be difficult, panning the camera left would reduce the red mountains in the background and due to the terrain I couldn't move to the left to keep the same background, but I do see your point.

John,

I have no idea why a prospector over 100 years ago named the mine. There are, even today, many black bears in the area. I did a quick Google search and only came up with the following: Black Bear Mine came first, it was deemed profitable enough to build an access road to it, Black Bear Road, which goes over a saddle between two peaks. Where the road crosses the saddle it is called Black Bear Pass. In Colorado when people refer to trails it is common that the trail is named for the pass it goes over, thereby my usage. I found one reference to another name at www.treknow.com: "This pass has also been know as Ingram Pass, named after J. Ingram who discovered the Smuggler Union Mine in 1876." That's the limit of my knowledge, other than it is known as one of the most dangerous 4WD trails in Colorado. There is a series of steep rock steps and very narrow and tight switchbacks (with a 1500 foot drop if you drive off the road) which requires the trail to be a one-way road down into Telluride. I have driven it many times but my girlfriend almost beat me after taking her down this trail she was so scared (the portion shown in the photo is on the tamer east side). And this was after going on many other trails in the area and having no issues.

Great color in this one, Scott. And, the mood is enhanced by the storm clouds. An exciting and frightening time to be above treeline. I've never driven this one, but your image makes me want to go there, bad.

Looks like a great road and the colors in the distant peaks are amazing. I like both versions a lot, but the repost may be slightly better. It looks to me like you may have dodged the center in the repost and I do like the brighter greens in the foreground.

Man, this is an amazing view! (No roads above tree line where I live.) In fact I like the original comp a little better because I like everything in the view too much to crop it. I do like the added contrast in the second version though. (The reds look a little more intense than I would expect to see in Nature, but that may only be because (a) I live in an area with much less colorful rocks; and (b) I have kind of an atypical wide-gamut monitor, so take that comment with a grain of salt.)

As for the name of the "Black Bear Mine," John would be interested to know that a guy I know who used to live in mountains of Colorado near Jamestown told me that there were so many black bears there, that some intrepid miners who were not good at finding rare minerals took to mining for hibernating black bears. (Of course, he also told me that he used to troll for mountain lions by taking his leashed dogs for a hike.)