Boreas Pass, Guanella Pass, & Como Ghost Town

More of my shots from my recent photo shoot can be seen on my website in the gallery Boreas & Guanella Pass 7-24-2009 if you would like to see more than what I have posted below.

This past Friday evening I had the chance to venture out with my shooting buddy John (his work can be seen at Glitch-Chaos on deviantART ) and headed for some late day and evening shooting up at Guanella & Boreas Pass here in Colorado. I figured seeing as how we would be driving through the Ghost Town of Como to get to Boreas, it would also some great shots as well.

It is wildflower season in the high country right now, and we wouldn't be disappointed! The waterfalls and creeks were flowing heavily and made for some wonderful shots. Around the Guanella area, these are a sort of highlight for me... Guanella Pass sits at almost 12,000 feet high and runs between Georgetown and US285...it is easily passable in any car with parts being paved. At the summit of the pass, trails lead to Mt. Bierstadt (el. 14,060 ft./4285 m.) Shooting here is a really worth your wild experience, and late day light is very dramatic....and lead to some pretty sensational photographs. So without any delay, here are a few shots from Guanella Pass...









The Ghost Town of Como Colorado

While some may not consider it a Ghost Town in the traditional sense, I sure as heck do! There are still a handful of people who live there, but honestly, there are more empty buildings than there are people....and it makes for some GREAT shooting! Even the original outhouses still stand from the 1800s...it is like stepping in to a time warp....where time just simply stands still,.....a glimpse at how life was back in the wild west.

From the Wikipedia article on Como, Colorado:

Como is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office in Park County, Colorado, United States. The Como Post Office has the ZIP Code 80432.^[2]

Located at the northern end of South Park, the town is a historic mining settlement founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1859. It sits approximately one-half mile (1 km) north of U.S. Route 285, approximately 9 miles (15 km) northeast of Fairplay. It is accessible by an unpaved county road off Highway 285 leading northwest over Boreas Pass (to Breckenridge) in the Front Range. The mountains northwest of town form a dramatic background to the town site, which sits on the flank of Little Baldy Mountain. The town was named by prospectors and miners from Como, Italy who came to work the gold fields of the area.

In 1879 the town became the location of a roundhouse of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, which was extended over Kenosha Pass to reach the silver mining areas during the Colorado Silver Boom. The roundhouse served as a junction for trains going northward over Boreas Pass and southward toward Fairplay and over Trout Creek Pass at the western end of South Park. The town has many historic weathered structures, including the roundhouse, and has the air of a ghost town that is still nevertheless populated, by 500 people. It has a small commercial district just off the main county road consisting of a post office and general store. The roundhouse is currently under renovation with intention of turning it into a principal tourist attraction in the area.

What it doesn't tell you is all the people who died here, there was a mine collapse that claimed more than 25 peoples lives....there was also a massacre of Chinese mine workers in Como, in which it is estimated 100s died...due to the Italians and Irish at the time, disputing how the Chinese were paid lower wages and feared losing their jobs because of it.

But as I said it offered many photo-opps! Here are some below:

Boreas Pass, Colorado

Honestly this is one of my favorite places to shoot at, there is just a real lack of people up here and noise, it is almost eerie, like you are the last human on the face of the Earth. It starts at Como and comes into the backside of Breckenridge, and has some utterly amazing views along the way. It is a great trip to make, and the wildflowers are just amazing.

We arrived here at Golden Hour and went to town, stopping often to catch the dramatic light as it bounced off the rain clouds, with teh sunlight filtering through, it made for unreal conditions to shoot in. It was quite challenging at times actually, with trying to shoot with my tripod with a bum knee, and at times I just hand hold the shots, but I was able to get some pretty amazing shots off thanks to in body anti-shake in my Minolta!

The wildflowers just littered the road up here, they are literally just everywhere, and the scent they produce along with the smell of the rain, is nothing short of absolutely heavenly! It really is something out of a film, or movie, that you experience. So journey with me on this adventure to Boreas Pass!

Technorati Tags: Boreas Pass Guanella Pass Photography Photo Colorado Minolta landscape nature outdoors adventures travel

The Inner Battle Among Photographers

Before I write this, I want you to all know where I am coming from. I am a Gallery Moderator on deviantART for Photography-Animals, Plants, & Nature (think basically, Nature Photography) I interact with literally thousands upon thousands of people, sometimes on a daily basis. And it is with that interaction that I started to notice a few things amongst my fellow photographers.

It almost seems there are 2 camps within nature photography, these who believe in capturing the image exactly as you saw it, and those who get a little creative with their images...maybe doing subtle HDR work, de-saturating images, and so forth. Oddly I have found it is the later, the creative camp, who is more likely to do B&W work, but anyways....

What I have come to notice is a BIG chip on the shoulder coming from the the "The eye crowd" as I call them, towards their creative brethren... and it often gets pretty heated. It kind of leaves me scratching me head honestly, wondering why so many feel this way, feeling the need to outright openly and attack others because they feel an image is wrong....I kind of wonder where the respect has gone.

Is it possible to even have a "right" or a "wrong" within a creative medium? I am not to sure of that. No 2 photographers are going to capture things the exact same way, and who cares if one shot has more post work than the other, in all honesty. I think without question, we all view things the same way when we take the shot, regardless if one photographer decides to go with a B&W and the other one replicating the scene the best as they can to the human eye....we are all photographers....

So what is causing these attacks and general disdain? That is what I would like to know myself. Now I don't mean to be offensive here, but honestly, there are a million and 1 cookie cutter waterscape shots that all look the same, long exposure, at sunrise/sunset, etc. And often, oddly, these folks attacking the more creative ones, their shots all look a lot alike. I honestly to God can not tell who shot what....is that a slam? I don't think so as much as it is an observance of a possible pattern. I honestly like their work, but at times, I can't tell who shot what...

Myself, I think I ride the fence a lot between the two camps, sometimes I take shots with a more creative workflow in mind, other times, I capture it as realistically as I can...needless to say, some of the comments I receive are well...."interesting", I will say that. That being said though, I have worked long and hard at developing my own style, and maybe that is what needs to happen....I remember an old quote that goes something like "People put down what they don't understand"....I guess those words really ring true, especially these days with what I have seen.

Anyways, here are a couple shots from this past Friday evening that I took up on Guanella Pass & Boreas Pass here in Colorado...stay tuned for a formal blog post about that, in the days to come!

--John







Technorati Tags: photography, photo, deviantart, landscape, outdoors, nature, colorado

Christmas In July Print Sale!

Get 'em while they are hot!--- I have decided to go
ahead and try something new, doing a prints sale of my work, on my own!
I am offering 12"x18" prints signed by me (unless of course you would
like it unsigned) for $25 plus FREE shipping in the USA. They are
printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper and done on a Noritsu 3111
printer, in both Lustre and Glossy papers. I can accept payments via
PayPal, so if you are interested, just note me! It is never to early to
shop for the upcoming holidays and they look great hanging on a office
wall! Swing by my website and check out what I all have to offer! jdebordphoto.com and sign the guestbook and say "howdy!"

John

The Rudeness Amongst Artist's

I am not sure if it has been a full moon since, oh I don't know, the 19th we'll say of this month of June or what, but what in the heck is in the air lately? One thing I have never understood is the rudeness among artists....not just fellow photographers but artists in general. For those of you who don't know, I am a Gallery Moderator on deviantART for Photography>Animals, Plants & Nature. Some of the things I have seen have just been downright disturbing, from someone saying that "maybe if you had a REAL camera and not a camera phone....." (said image was shot on a Bronica!!!) to someone telling a photographer to stop saying something in their replies to people on their very own photography, not just telling, but demanding, all the way to someone slamming another Gallery Moderator because she is French and therefor is a elitist. On and on, it goes on.....

This isn't just limited to deviantART however, I have seen the same kinda of things just about everywhere else BUT fredimiranda.com and Naturescapes.net I am not sure why people simply can't be more respectable to others, especially their fellow artists and why it seems many have a hard time figuring out that not everyone is going to like everything. It is a given, and as the saying goes, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time" Amen to that. If you see something you don't like on the TV to you continue watching it? No, you change the channel. The same can be said for an image you don't like, if you see one you don't like, move on to a different one. Don't slam the artist. Respect the artist. Putting something down is usually caused by not understanding something.

I guess I have just been amazed lately by what I have seen lately....we are all artists, we all have passion in everything we do....I may not like Lowrider cars very much I sure as hell respect the time and effort these guys put into their rides. They are as much as part of the car world as Hotrods are. Appreciation and respect....seems many need a lesson on what is all about. Just because this is the internet doesn't give you a right to slam someone on their work. Trying to understand and trying to appreciate does wonders folks.....

Anyways, here are a few more recent shots that I have recently taken....











Technorati Tags: devianyart, kkart, photography, photo, blog, Colorado, nature, outdoors, landscape

The Musings Of A Photographer

The disgruntled upgrade path of a photographer---- Honestly Sony, wtf are you doing?!?!?! I don't know what exactly I am going to do now, but I think my plan is this; to go with what is now an "older Alpha", probably a200, a300, a350, and just wait and see. The newly released Alpha's have me more than disappointed, honestly. They lack features, features which I use in my everyday photography, and are clearly aimed at what I can only describe at Soccer Mom's. In fact, someone on the dpreview Sony dslr forum made the comment "The girlfriend dslr has officially landed!", while someone else said "Wife Camera 101 debuts!" (Seriously who the hell thought of a PINK lcd screen on the camera? WTF!?!?!?) You can watch the youtube review of 2 of the 3 new dslr's here I like how the Sony rep states "The a200's successor", ya, sure, lol It is dummied down for geeze sakes!

So here I sit, debating about all this, and wondering what exactly Sony is doing. I am going to have to sell my current dslr and a couple lenses (now ya all know WHY I bought 3 lenses from Ritz) to buy my new body eventually, which will happen in a few months. Sure, an a900 would be nice, is it realistic? No. Especially NOW considering all this and the fact that my money would be better spent in other real life issues. So I have come to a conclusion. I may just buy a cheap used a200 for now, and play the wait and see game, for a few. I am honestly very disappointed in these new cameras Sony has come out with, these are very beginner cameras, more so than any other out there and make a d40 look like a pro level camera.

If I don't like what I see, well, my only hope then is that Fuji releases the s6 Pro. Otherwise, I may just hop into a s5 Pro. Other than that, Pentax I have always liked, a lot, and Bestbuy has the Nikon d200 on closeout for $599.

How bad is bad? Look at this post on dpreview:

"Sony entry level DSLR's - redefining the term Upgrade

A100 had MLU, DOF preview, AEL button and SSS switch
A200 only had the AEL button and SSS switch
A230 has none."

The A200 was 70 gram lighter than the A100 and most people who handled both agree that build quality seemed to be worse with the A200. The A230 is 150 gram lighter, so I wouldn't be surprised if it feels like a cheap toy. To make matters worse, its framerate is now lower too (2.5fps vs. 3.0fps in the A100 and A200).

Does anyone want to guess what will go next? For the A260 I bet Sony is considering to drop PASM and RAW. After all, who need those?

I hate this crap. Minolta, where art thou? Please come back and save us, we dearly miss you more than we can say.....


Hey Photo Forums? Guess what? It's 2009! Wake up!--- You know what I can't stand, and is a serious pet peeve of mine? Photography Forum sites that only allow 700px-800px photographs on the longest side is what I can't stand. It is 2009, wake up! This usually equates to people posting photos from their flickr site that are like 400px in size. Seriously. How the hell is anyone supposed to see ANYTHING at a resolution of 400px? It's 2009, 24" monitors are the norm this day and age. If you didn't know, your ass better call somebody! I didn't join 4 forums because of this rule, the 2 exceptions is naturephotographers.net and naturescapes.net which only allows 700px on the longest, because, well, the info one gains there is next to invaluable.

Shutterstock CEO--CSR Skills Much? FAIL!--- Seriously, want to see how NOT to talk to your contributor base? This is ridicules and shows not only complete lack of respect but arrogance as well.

A little history first---The IRS is for some reason withholding taxes of international contributors on Shutterstock, even though they are not citizens and pay NO US tax. They have a right to be pissed, I would be too. There has been a massive outcry and well, there should be, as well. (Last I heard, wasn't America essentially founded on the catchphrase "No taxation without representation"? So do they get to vote in our elections then?) Check this out on the Shutterstock forums

Here is the post on how the CEO of Shutterstock responded to the community (not the way to address your clients mind you IMO. BAD customer service defined!)

Witholding Tax Issue - Calm down.

Okay.

1) This is a US government regulation. What would you like us to do about it? Go to jail? Go out of business? We are sorry - but we can’t just move the company out of the US or creating another company somewhere else to pay you. That is called tax evasion. These are laws. We can’t change the laws. We have 60 employees in NYC - they aren’t going anywhere.

2) If you follow the rules you won’t be double taxed. Your country has rules that we follow every day also. You may need to do a bit of work here, but we will help you out with them. You will have a chance to get your ITIN before we start following regulations and witholding.

3) If you don’t want to deal with this, then leave. We are happy to remove all your images for you. If I continue to read threads on the forum that you will be taking your images elsewhere, I will delete them myself and close your account. I’ve done it a few times already- I am not kidding about this.

4) Online petition claiming we are taxing you? Why would we be taxing you? Again, this is the US government. We are just following the law.

5) Want to change your avatar to something obnoxious? Again, I will personally delete your profile, images, etc. You are just creating more work for us.

6) If you think other microstock companies are except from paying tax, think again. It’s a matter of time before they start following the law also.

7) Why don’t US citizens have to deal with this? Because we already have their W9 forms. Don’t worry - they dealt with it also.

8) Welcome to doing business internationally. We will all make money together - but we have to follow the rules.

9) We will answer every single question you have - but you have to give us time to get to them.

Jon Oringer
Founder/CEO
Shutterstock Images LLC


Captured this past Sunday at Mount Evans Wilderness here in Colorado, Bristlecone Pines are the oldest living on the planet, it is amazing to think that some of these trees are literally thousands of years old, imagine the stories that they could tell if they could speak! To see more of my images, click the photo which will take you to the gallery on my website with the photos from my trip!Technorati Tags: business, Shutterstock, photography, marketing, photo, Colorado, Photography, landscape, outdoors, nature, thoughts, Sony, Minolta,

Countrified!

I have this obsession with images of nature and images of a rural setting, and when they come together it just always seems like such harmony is being created.

Captured yesterday outside of the Mount Evans Wilderness area here in Colorado, by the Chicago Creek Camping area, I am not sure I can find all the words to put this shot into perspective but I will try my best.

One of the great things about Colorado is exploring, it seems down every road that you have never traveled on, something photographic is always there within seconds, and this was one of those places, I have always wanted to explore this area some but just never really have, maybe it's fact I have always thought it was a rough dirt road, but while it is a dirt country road, it wasn't rough. The creek and river flowed right next to the road with old beautiful country cabins dotting the landscape next to it, when I saw this sitting in the yard of one, covered by wildflowers. I actually almost missed the scene completely, but luckily I JUST saw it. I didn't have the lens on really I wanted, as I had my Tamron 200-400mm on my camera at the time, but decided what the heck, and had at it.

It is hard to describe the sounds I heard when I was shooting this, but let's just say that between the constant buzzing of Hummingbird's, the soft roar of the river, and the very strong scent of wildflowers mixed with the incoming rain, THIS was SERENITY defined! Not a sound of man anywhere, nothing, nada.



Technorati Tags: Landscape, outdoors, nature, country, rural, Colorado, rustic, season, Mount Evans,

Something To Ponder

Some of you may recall the recent journal I wrote titled "Ponder This" and this Tuesday morning, while reading my Twitter stream, once again, I saw a post that made me think and kind of made me take notice, you can say.

This one comes from danielwharmby (Daniel Wharmby, a California based professional editorial photographer some of you may know, his website is here and if you aren't following him on twitter, you should be! Like NOW!) What he posted just made sense. Pure sense;

--My instructors used to say "There's no point going around the world if you can't tell a story in your back yard."

Now how true is THAT!? How often do we sit around dreaming of being able to go and shoot somewhere exotic, while often we don't realize the incredible locations we have at our very own dispose. I know often I do. There are a billion locations here in Colorado that I still want to shoot, and haven't yet. Heck, it was only a couple years ago that I discovered one of my favorite gems to shoot, South Valley Park, which is tucked away in a subdivision here in metro Denver of all places. It is one of the best kept little secrets around, and is like a mini Garden Of The Gods kind of place.

How often do you guys get out and actually explore where it is you live and shoot? Have you ever checked your local parks and lakes? You might be quite shocked, I know I certainly have been several times.

Often it seems that paradise is close by, but rarely we see it. However when you open your eyes and starting to take notice, you start to notice the very things which are around you! And believe me, beauty isn't always that far away!


South Valley Park, Colorado....a little local gem of a location almost in my backyard