Aspen Light and Shadow - White River National Forest, Colorado

Capitol Creek Road, White River National Forest, Colorado

One of the stops on Rick Louie's Fall Colorado Tour was the Aspen Snowmass area. I think it was the first time he had visited there on one of his tours. To get there, we took Capitol Creek Road, which is a one-lane dirt road that has some spots to park along the way. The objective was to get some shots of Capitol Peak towering over a valley of aspens. The weather did not cooperate much in that regard, as the peak was covered in clouds and fog (we did get a small peek at the peak - pardon the pun). That was okay, as the colors of the aspens were pretty amazing, but there just wasn't much sun to light them up. A little patience proved to be the correct approach, as we got a good play of light and shadow. The challenge was to spot where the sun was, and quickly compose, focus and shoot. That didn't always work, as the light would disappear quite quickly. In this case, I managed to pull it off.