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My annual Colorado wildflower pilgrimage
is one of the most important photo shoots of the year, but my July, 2010, trip nearly ended in frustration. The well-watered
valleys of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness are home to some of Colorado's most spectacular wildflowers. For my July shoot
I decided to visit two valleys that I had never thoroughly explored. Both Hasley Basin and Buckskin Basin looked promising
on the map, and both had looked lush and inviting when I had looked down into them from a nearby pass. But both proved to
be a disappointment. The flowers were sparse, and the weather didn't help. After six hard days of backpacking, with lots of
mud, miles and mosquitoes but very few good photographs, I retreated to a hotel for one night to recharge both physical and
mental batteries. That night I witnessed a wonderful sunset and moonrise over the Conoco station in downtown Carbondale. If
only I'd still been in the mountains!
I had originally planned to shoot sunrise from the summit
of 14,014-foot North Maroon as my last hurrah before heading home, but decided to change plans. Grand landscapes with wildflowers
in the foreground are among my best-selling photographs. The flowers were mediocre in 2009, and in 2008 I was flat on my back
with a herniated disc. I didn't want 2010 to be equally unproductive. I decided to spend one last night in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass
Wilderness, this time in Silver Creek Basin. I'd visited the area many times before, and often found great flowers.
As I bounced up the Lead King Basin jeep road towards the trailhead, I tried to imagine an image I didn't already have. After
specializing in Colorado wilderness landscapes for 17 years, staying fresh is a challenge. Recently I'd been shooting 360-degree
panoramas from the summit of Fourteeners. How about a 360-degree panorama of wildflowers? I'd never tried that before. The
crux, of course, would be finding a field of wildflowers big enough, and lush enough, to look good in every direction. Silver
Creek Basin has some of the biggest Indian paintbrush fields in the state, so my idea might be feasible. Finding the right
flowers was my first problem, but the most unpredictable variable was the weather. I knew I would also need a great sky, or
I would end up with a photograph that was three inches high and five feet wide.
I backpacked
in a short distance, set up camp and began scouting. After re-visiting all the wildflower hot-spots I remembered from previous
years, I settled on a field of paintbrush that grew just above timberline atop the broad, gentle, southern shoulder of Meadow
Mountain. After shooting some test sequences in late afternoon as thunderstorms began to build, I headed back to camp to eat
dinner, planning to return to shoot sunset. As the storms gathered strength, the cold downdrafts off the cumulonimbus clouds
began pummeling my tent. If the wind continued, it would be impossible to make sharp photographs of flowers during the long
exposures necessary at sunset.
I returned to my shooting location an hour before sunset. Gradually
the wind eased to a fitful breeze. As sunset neared, the clouds to the east began to light up. Then the color began to spread.
Glowing clouds soon filled the sky in every direction. It had been five years since I had seen such a magnificent sunset.
On that occasion, my composition had been constrained by the brown, eight-foot-high oak brush surrounding me on three sides,
and I had not been able to shoot the ultra-wide panorama that would have captured the amazing experience. Now, on my very
first try at shooting a 360-degree wildflower panorama, I had been incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful sky in every
direction ‒ exactly what I needed to create Meadow Mountain Panorama.
Meadow Mountain Panorama is available as a 7.9x30, 10.5x40 and 15.75x60
inch print. All prints are available loose and as gallery floats. In the gallery float style of presentation,
the print is first mounted onto high-quality 1/4" medium-density fiberboard, then covered with a UV-resistant,
anti-glare, protective laminate. The edges are lightly beveled, and a decorative black trim is applied. In
the final step, strips of one-inch thick MDF are attached to the back. These strips are recessed two
inches from the edge of the piece so that the finished piece appears to "float" one inch away from the wall. The
piece is hung from a French cleat, which is positioned atop a mirror bar attached to the wall. All mounting hardware
is included. Other presentation options (such as traditional matting and framing) are available on request. For
more information on special orders, please call 303 499-3009 or email me.
To order any of the loose sizes, or to order a 7.9x30 or 10.5x40 gallery
float, please visit my product catalog by clicking the link beneath the appropriate thumbnail. These prints are
available to order online.
Important note on shipping: All gallery-float prints longer than 40
inches are too big to be shipped via FedEx ground and too big to fit in any standard-size art box. While these prints
can be shipped, they require a custom-made crate and the cost is exorbitant ($300+). I strongly suggest that all customers
who live outside the Denver metro area and who wish to purchase a print larger than 40 inches in length buy the loose
version and take it to the custom frame shop of their choosing.
For customers who live in the Denver metro area,
I will personally deliver any matted-only, framed or gallery-float print for a delivery charge of $1.50 per mile
based on round-trip mileage. Alternatively, Denver-area customers can arrange to pick up their print at my home
office in south Boulder. For more information, please call 303 499-3009 or email me.
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15.75x60 gallery float print of Meadow Mountain Panorama,
$708.75. To order this print, please call 303 499-3009 or email me.
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