A sea of alpine wildflowers dances in the summer breeze—Indian paintbrush, lupine, and more turning the mountains into a living palette of color. Captured a few days ago near Vail, Colorado.
ILCE-7CRZEISS Batis 2.8/135 lens135mmf/8.01/80s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRZEISS Batis 2.8/135 lens135mmf/10.01/100s200 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRZEISS Batis 2.8/135 lens135mmf/10.01/100s200 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRFE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens55mmf/5.61/100s200 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRFE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens55mmf/10.01/320s400 ISO-1.0 EV
ILCE-7CRVoigtlander COLOR-SKOPAR 21mm F3.5 Aspherical lens21mmf/8.01/20s400 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRFE 35mm F2.8 ZA lens35mmf/10.01/25s400 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRZEISS Batis 2.8/135 lens135mmf/11.01/50s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRZEISS Batis 2.8/135 lens135mmf/9.01/30s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRZEISS Batis 2.8/135 lens135mmf/10.01/50s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRFE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens55mmf/2.81/25s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRFE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens55mmf/1.81/320s400 ISO0.0 EV
Absolutely gorgeous. I love wildflower scenery and that natural garden you found is beautiful. I particularly like indian paintbrush and you have an abundance here. Well captured.
dakel wrote:
Absolutely gorgeous. I love wildflower scenery and that natural garden you found is beautiful. I particularly like indian paintbrush and you have an abundance here. Well captured.
Derrick, thank you! I really appreciate that! Indian paintbrush are one of my favorites too—so striking and full of energy. It was a treat to find so many in one place. And I find it rare to see the vibrant pink ones which is also a nice treat!
ILCE-7CRFE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens55mmf/2.21/125s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7CRVoigtlander COLOR-SKOPAR 21mm F3.5 Aspherical lens21mmf/13.01/50s250 ISO0.0 EV
Wow, Scott, what a photographer’s candy store, thanks for sharing! My favorite is #5, it reminds me of an area I used to photograph during wildflower season in Mount Rainier National Park.
Ross Martin wrote:
Wow, Scott, what a photographer’s candy store, thanks for sharing! My favorite is #5, it reminds me of an area I used to photograph during wildflower season in Mount Rainier National Park.
I appreciate that Ross! I love that it brought back memories of Mount Rainier—what an incredible place for wildflowers. I bet that was a dream to photograph during peak bloom! I literally felt like a kid in a candy store when taking these, in a way it was almost over stimulation and made it challenging to frame things up in an interesting way.
Scott - Wow! Great images! I totally get the candy store reference. It brings back memories of a backpacking/fishing trip with my son near Leadville years ago. Gotta love the Colorado high country! Especially in bloom! I'm a CSU alum. Steve
ratherfish wrote:
Scott - Wow! Great images! I totally get the candy store reference. It brings back memories of a backpacking/fishing trip with my son near Leadville years ago. Gotta love the Colorado high country! Especially in bloom! I'm a CSU alum. Steve
Thanks so much, Steve! Love hearing that it brought back memories of your trip with your son—those kinds of adventures really stay with us. I was just in Leadville last week hanging out fishing near Turquoise Lake with my family making memories. The Colorado high country in bloom is something special, and I totally agree—hard to beat it. Go Rams!
Stefan Official wrote:
Normally I'm not a big fan of flowers because there are just so many boring photos. But this one really appeals to me! Well done!
That means a lot Stefan—especially coming from someone who isn’t usually drawn to flower shots. Thanks for the kind words!
An explosion of color!
I used to live in Colorado in the late 70s/early 80s. My favorite time was the monsoon season (late July/early Aug) as it brought out so many flowers above tree line.
Thanks for bringing that back
Doug
graytrekker wrote:
An explosion of color!
I used to live in Colorado in the late 70s/early 80s. My favorite time was the monsoon season (late July/early Aug) as it brought out so many flowers above tree line.
Thanks for bringing that back
Doug
Thanks so much, Doug. That’s such a cool memory—sounds like you got to experience Colorado in its golden years. Monsoon season still puts on quite the show up high. My favorite time of the year. Glad this brought a bit of that back for you!
One more, this one is a focus stack - in one shot I had of the red Indian Paintbrush, the flower on the left was in focus, but not the one on the right. In the second image of this I had the right flower in focus but the left was out of focus. Stacked together, they're both in focus!
ILCE-7CRFE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens55mmf/8.01/80s250 ISO0.0 EV
Great series Scott! The colors are amazing. I have just returned last month from Crested Butte - my first visit to another wildflower paradise spot (did not process the pictures yet...). So I see lots of similarities. I can tell even without opening my pictures that focus stacking will be a serious challenge :-). Will post a little later.
Thanks for posting! enjoyed every picture in your series.
jacob
