Trail Ridge Limber Pine

[Jim Dockery]

My wife and I drove the high elevation Trail Ridge road a couple times a few summers ago while visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. On our last traverse I insisted on staying for sunset at some limber pines I'd seen on a ridge above the road. She walked up with me while I scouted them, but a cool wind sent her back to our van while I bundled up and waited for sunset. The colors were nice, but not spectacular. In the end I preferred the drama of the clouds when converted to b&w.

I was still shooting when I heard her plaintive call for me to return to the van - I was so involved in getting the shot I'd forgotten we hadn't eaten dinner yet! I hustled back to the van and fired up the stove for some soup and crackers to satisfy her, but had to promise that was the last such photo evening.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Lovely shot. It's hard to do photography when a non photographer is waiting.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice shot - this does work well in B&W. My wife finally decided she really didn't want to come along if my camera gear was coming along too. She knows all too well what happens when I spot a scene I want to shoot.

Happily she has no issue letting me roam around the west taking pictures while she stays at home.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Jim, I really like how you worked this shot. And yeah, B&W looks awesome!

 

[Bob Denton]

Great work!

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Beautiful B/W image

 

[BarryHamilton]

Neat contrasts and mood here. Nicely done!

 

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks for all the comments. Since we retired my wife and I have been taking a couple of 3-6 week camping/hiking trips a year in our van, with photography being my main focus. While she generally supports this, it can get tedious when I get stuck in one place for an hour doing focus stacks/panos/changing lenses/etc. We'd both be very lonely if I did these trips alone, so I have to compromise some days and agree to just go for a hike and throttle back the photos (although I still bring a camera). One idea has been for her to bring her phone or iPad to play games/read, but there often isn't a nice place to sit so I just got a Heilinox Chair Zero that I'll carry for her to relax in.

 

[Mike Mancil]

I can only imagine all the views this tree has witnessed. Superb image and b/w work.