Never Summer Wilderness

We visited Colorado this June & July and had a remarkable journey through the Rocky Mountain National Park and Arapaho National Forest. The Never Summer Wilderness area borders the western side of Rocky Mountain NP and straddles the Continental Divide. 13,000-foot peaks with 11,000-foot alpine lakes on their flanks were this trip’s scenic destinations. Parika Lake provided one nice, large trout, but photography was our challenge. Look at some photos or

The alpine zone provided sweeping vistas and a good test for a fisheye lens. A longer lens could zoom into the distance throng of mountains on the horizon, but an ultra-wide angle lens captures how small one feels above tree line. The problem with wide angle lenses is that they can make the subject extremely small, especially landscapes, unless one finds a strong figure/ground relationship. Since the wide angle lens can have extremely close focal points and long depths of field, the camera can really isolate a subject in front of huge, sweeping spaces. Long lenses can make distance space appear compressed against the subject.

In addition to mountain travels, we explored Denver and the many breweries found in Colorado. The below map shows a few highlights of the trip.