That sleepy little town

Was fortunate to attend a 3 week workshop at a fantastic location – Telluride. A small town of only 2000+ residences, it’s a place I probably won’t visit if not for the workshop. It’s remote, it’s small, but it’s very beautiful. Sitting in a box valley and surrounded by tall mountains, this is paradise for someone coming from sardine packed Singapore.

Hiking

Telluride is primarily a ski-resort, but there’s no shortage of stuff to do during summer too. Being the geeks we all are, hiking was about as adventurous as we could get. My first hike was on Bear Creek trail, a very popular beginners trail about 8km round trip with an elevation gain of 1050ft. The hike was all but leisurely though.. still recovering from throat infection the thin and dry air didn’t help. Almost finished a whole pack of lozenges when I finally reached the Bear Creek Falls which marked the end of the trail.



In an attempt to get an interesting composition, I tried wading into the harmless looking stream. It was a mistake. The water was ice cold! Within seconds, I realized I was loosing sensation of my feet. Lesson learnt – check the temperature of the water before sticking your feet in.
Two days later, we went on a second hike. This one was more ambitious. A 25km hike with 1km of elevation. The views though, were stunning. Streams and mini waterfalls were all around us. There was still snow in some places. Like one friend put it: We were walking in a postcard.



Reaching the top was a test of endurance. Air was thin, and I was breathing like I had been running. No more soil in the trail, only rocks, and the trail grew steeper. I guess breath-taking has its literal meaning too.

As we approached the top, what little breath we had were taken away by meadows of wild flowers and snow. Our destination, the Blue Lake, sits in tranquility and surrounded by three needled pyramid shaped peaks. The water was turquoise, probably from the iron or copper they used to mine here. Water, as usual, was icy cold. Not surprising given where it came from.



Not sure if it was the lack of coffee or the elevation, but my head was throbbing while I tried to get as many pictures as I could. This image was shot through a polarizer and an ND400 filter. We then settled on a rock for some lunch and much needed rest.



A storm soon came (you can see the looming clouds in the left of the image above), and being above treeline, there was no shelter from the lightning. We had to run. Not a pleasant experience, especially due to the stress on your knees. Thankfully, we made it back safely and I got my long overdue caffeine. The entire hike took us almost 8 hours.

My third hike was a solo hike the morning before I had to leave. It was a really really short hike to Cornet Falls which is just behind the school (Waterfalls everywhere!). Only took 1 hour round trip (including taking pictures), but the path was steep and full of loose rocks. A walking stick is highly recommended. I used my tripod.

Star Gazing

One need not go breathless just to enjoy nature. Just getting out of house at night is sufficient to experience the magic at Telluride. The air is thin. The place is remote. The streetlights go off at night. The free gondola that takes you up to 10500ft and runs till midnight. It is an amazingly convenient place to see the milky way with your bare eyes.

Unfortunately, I only did night photography 3 times throughout my stay. This was mainly due to the moon, which sets too late in the first two weeks. But by the 3rd week, the moon didn’t rise till it was late in the night, so I had my chance. Made my way up the gondola while everyone else was still enjoying liquor at the final dinner. Thanks to the Life Time feature on the EM5, I spent much less time on composition and determining the optimal exposure settings. And of course, the Nokton, as always, rules the nights.



There were lights in the cabin next to the ski-lift. I was initially quite disappointed as it spoiled a composition I had planned. On the flipside, the light actually helped to brighten the foreground, and by getting low I managed to avoid direct glare..

Other photo ops

Nice pictures can be had in the day too, if one has enough time to hunt for them. Between the busy workshop schedule and the need to cook all my meals, I did find some spare time to wander around. This is by large due to the fact that the sun sets at almost 9pm, which gave me time to go shoot after dinner.




The pictures above were all taken on after-dinner strolls. Gotta love the long days! If I had the chance to return again, I will definitely go for overnight camps and check out the snowy meadows under the starry skies. Adios Telluride!