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Along Colorado Route 550 between Ouray and Silverton. Aspens backlit by the high altitude sun. (click to enlarge) Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 61mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200 |
Next we drove back through Ridgway, resumed heading south on Rt. 550 toward the town of Ouray. Ouray is a small town located in a box canyon exhibiting typical western U.S. architecture and many very friendly people. We stopped at a wonderful little bakery, The Artisan Bakery, in town and purchased some delicious pastries which we would eat later that evening as a nice snack.
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Dallas Divide 5 image panorama (click to enlarge) Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 55mm; 1/550th sec. @ f/11; ISO 200 |
Right at the very edge of the roadway are cliffs hundreds of feet high with no guardrail to keep you from driving off if you have a small lapse of judgement! Needless to say, with me driving and near the center of the two-lane highway, I was much more comfortable than my wife who was looking down over the edge from the passenger's side. I tried to keep more toward the middle of the road than near the edge, just to be kind.
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Crystal Lake, Route 550 between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado (click to enlarge) Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 16mm; 1/450th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200 |
I must have gotten out of my vehicle 30 times during that 23 mile trip. Each time I thought that it was impossible to be more beautiful, I would round a bend and it was more beautiful. There were also some old homes and old silver mines that complimented the colors. The locals told us that not only was the color early this year, but it was the best they had seen in a long time. I'm very lucky to happen upon it on this road trip.
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Route 550 between Ouray and Silverton Colorado. Notice the old silver mine. (click to enlarge) |
We then proceed to Silverton, still stopping to make images of the mountains. In Silverton, I walked over to the old railroad station and photographed the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train that was taking on coal and water before its return trip to Durango that afternoon.
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Abandoned building, Route 550 between Ouray and Silverton Colorado (click to enlarge) Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 @ 55mm; 1/280th sec. @ f/6.4; ISO 200 |
I used both the X-T2 and the E-M1 Mark II for this part of our journey. When I return home, my plan is to make a few of these images into really large prints to a) hand on a wall in my photo editing room and b) to see for myself if I prefer either camera for these types and sizes of images. I will report back on that after I have the prints made.
More from the western town of Durango, Colorado on Wednesday. Stay tuned.
Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com.
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
All content on this blog is © 2013-2018 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.
As a rail fan and photographer, you should make time to ride the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad. We were lucky enough to travel it during peak color season a few years ago. The scenery is beautiful and the trip amazing. Plus, the rail yard at Chama is completely open for you to roam around and photograph.
ReplyDeleteBob, hold on for a few posts. I’m heading that way!
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