Rocky Mountain Alps

   

The Mountaineers Mountains

I want to make sure I get this right because there are those who know more about this than I that are there to make sure to correct me if I stray from the absolutes. The San Juan Mountains of Colorado, from Ouray in the North and ranging South to Piedra and home to 13 of Colorado's 54 peaks above 14,000', and eight above 13,000 feet, have been referred to as the North American Alps, and they truly are. I have wandered through all of the mountains in the Gore Range, Swatch Range, Collegiate Range and the Maroon Snowmass Wilderness Area, and many places between, but there is nothing like the San Juans. For their expansiveness, and relief. The mountaineers mountains. I started kicking around in the southern mountains of Colorado only recently and have found that navigating them on foot is a supreme challenge. Mt. Sneffles Peak, at 14,157', pictured below is a true Massif and flanked by venerable ridge lines that beckon to be traversed. 

The images below, shot out the window of a Cessna 185, flown by my long time friend and mentor, Barry Stott, give a unique view into the utter expansiveness of this upheaval of granite. From the air, you can see layer upon layer of spine upon spine of some of the most rugged terrain that North America has to offer with an array of sculpted and unique features beyond any description.

Inviting and defying. 

Tuscan Design

Every Room Like Art

Among the many arrows in the quiver of a sound photographer are the arrows of interior and architectural photography. Much of my work is out on location in a beautiful or interesting setting shooting people. Some pretty, some interesting, but people none the less. Animate targets who I can boss and direct into my desired outcomes. I am also asked to photograph spaces of the living and working sort, void of humanity. In the days of film, we tediously shot everything on 4x5 film setting everything up on Polaroid film first concealing lighting where ever we could to achieve the perfect image, sometimes with eight or ten lights hidden, all on one sheet of film. Nowadays, in the digital era, we have no such tedium. I now use one light with the camera in lockdown and blast supplemental lighting into the dark holes and onto the interesting surfaces one frame at a time. The rest comes in editing, layer by layer, until the image is complete. In the days of film we were able to get 4 rooms shot, per day. Five tops. The smaller the room the more time consuming. These days our image count is quite a bit more than that. This home was designed by interior designer Mooney Graves and was quite fun to shoot because of the palette of colors, the incandescent lighting and the natural wash of window light.

I recommend exploding each of these images by clicking on them. Lots of interesting details.