Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, USA, holds a special place in my heart. It is here that I realized a turning point in my life when I dedicated myself to pursuing the art and craft of landscape photography.
Anyone who visits the park – one of the most popular in the nation due to its proximity to the ever-growing population of the Front Range stretching from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Colorado Springs – is familiar with its beauty and its sheer popularity.
Visitation rates exceeding 4 million each year for the past 10 years have led to measures like timed entry with the intention of providing a better experience for everyone. While it’s debatable whether additional red tape improves our experiences, I am glad I’ve been fortunate enough to explore the park thoroughly before such measures were put in place.
During the winter season, much of the traffic is in and out of the park centres around Sheep Lakes, Moraine Park, and the ever-popular – for a good reason – Bear Lake. From Bear Lake, one can hike along three additional alpine lakes: Nymph, Dream and Emerald, where a pristine alpine environment is easily accessible to anyone willing to hike a few miles at elevation.
It was within this very environment I chose to throw out the digital point-and-shoots I had been using since the onset of the digital photography revolution and pursue landscape photography in all its aspects.
Pictured here is Hallett Peak. Hallett’s summit stands at 12,720 ft (3877 meters) on the Continental Divide. It dominates the skyline from within the wilderness and park boundaries, as well as the nearby town of Estes Park.
When I lived in the Front Range, frequent visits to this area were a must at all times of the year – learning more about these alpine environments and landscape photography and fully immersing myself in my newfound craft and artistic journey.
While digging through archives of my treasured times here, I found a few untouched captures and felt they should be processed and published. A tribute to the season, the pristine alpine environment and the journey I started here nearly a decade ago.
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