John Fielder and a trip to Telluride...

Without a doubt John Fielder is Colorado’s premier landscape photographer.  I have spent many hours in his gallery in Denver this year admiring both his and fellow photographers images.

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of participating in a colorful 3-day fall foliage workshop in the San Juan Mountains around Telluride, where autumn delivers layer upon layer of color. Fresh snow dusts peaks under blue skies, while golden aspens, yellow cottonwoods, orange willows and red sandstone hills add explosions of color to the high country John showed us his favorite backroads as vast ranches stretch out in magnificent valleys.

I took the image below along a magnificent stretch of, "Last Dollar Road". It was a beautiful morning and the sun was lighting up the brilliant fall foliage.

One of John's favourite places is Ralph Lauren's amazing ranch and surrounding land. The following image is a favourite of mine not only because of the wonderful vista - but I couldn't get enough of the Aspen bowl fences!

We spent hours, looking up to capture the towering yellow aspens rising against blue skies, and photographed horses and cows grazing in snow-kissed meadows. This was a wonderful opportunity to discover the heart and soul of nature’s beauty in the Colorado high country. I am still learning and feel that after this workshop I have been able to continue improving my images.

I have included a few images - I shot thousands over the weekend. I entered a number of images below in a Telluride Photography competition recently, and although I think the photograph is interesting, I was surprised when this was the shot that won second prize. Beauty must be in the eye of the beholder!

I submitted three images yesterday for selection, to be hung in John Fielders gallery in Denver in an upcoming exhibition. The panel will select only 18 images to hang - my fingers and toes are crossed. I am hopeful that one of my three will be chosen. This would be a fantastic end to a wonderful year of photography in the US in 2012.