Roxborough Spring, a photo from Colorado, West

Photographer's Note

Roxborough Spring

Roxborough State Park,
South of Denver, Colorado.

One of my best purchases of the year has been the Best of Colorado book by iconic Colorado photographer John Fielder.

I had purchased this book to find some new hiking destinations for Andrew and I during the seasons when the high alpine trails were under the snow. One of my favorite discoveries this year has been the wonderful red rock formations of Roxborough Park. If you visit the theme on the left you will see I have done a November visit .. which was all about the red stone .. a Winter visit about the snow against the stone .. but Fielder strongly suggested that Spring was the time to visit .. when the red stone would be contrasted with the vibrant new life.

I was scared that my trip on this day was not going to work out. It was the memorial day holiday weekend so I was worried the park would be crawling with people .. but luckily it was not so bad.

Roxborough is a morning place .. all the angles seem best then .. but I thought it would be a lovely day to take the whole family .. so in addition to my wife, Andrew and I ... we had to get the two girls (7 and 4) out the door ... needless to say we were pushing time .. I was fretting all the way down at the empty blue hazy sky as I watched the sun climb up .. but luckily when we got to the park there was a lovely cloud bank filled with Spring rain dancing with the late morning sun light .. Many times it was beyond me .. too dark .. too bright .. but when it was within my skill it was wonderful. The park was beyond what I had imagined it would be in the Spring.

robertosalguero, rigoletto, jhm, scobert, evanrizo, gunbud, jwmunro, berseph, Didi, VeeJayCee, AROBN54, bruce_wayne, happypoppeye, adores, xuaxo, pboehringer, Silke marcou esta nota como útil

Critiques | Translate

robertosalguero (292) 2007-05-29 1:43

Wow, John, this is awesome. The contrast of colours and the
shape of the slabs create a beautiful scene. Well composed image
of this place under good light. It look like a storm was approaching.

Roberto

bracasha75 (24591) 2007-05-29 2:11

Helo John
Intresthing is that rocky Colorado have so match green to show us and the cloudy sky is greath to
Nice work
John
Cheers,Braca

markstaples (15670) 2007-05-29 3:08

Love the lighting and love the nice vibrant colours. Well composed with good foreground interest in the form of the yellow flowers. The grey cloud serves as a nice backdrop. Nice work.
Best wishes
Mark

afshin339 (306) 2007-05-29 3:28

Hi John
Perspective and beautiful colors in your photo seems nice and effective for viewer.
little flowers near us also is very nice.
If you could took the overspace in sky(over your cadre) I think your shot had better.
Generally Nice shot.
Good luck
afshin.

rigoletto (34279) 2007-05-29 3:46

Hi John,
This is like a wonderful romantic painting!
or Prelude a l'Apres midi d'un Faune...
A nice example of your beloved nature photography and a proof of your love of nature. Perfect light and colors. I especially like how the rocks and the branches lean to the same direction.
Kind regards,
Deniz

jonathan_hart (21276) 2007-05-29 4:11

hello John
it's an interesting place with these rocks, emerging from the green land, nice colours, good composition, i like it :)
regards
jo

sothy81 (9646) 2007-05-29 4:51

HI John,

This is beautiful! Just beautiful. Excellent light and exposure. Very nice foreground with the yellow flower. Well done

Sothy

vincz (19113) 2007-05-29 5:29

What a beautiful compostion, so well balanced. The oblique of the pink rocks work contribute so much to thi feeling of right balance. Quality of textures in the sky is wonderful. Excellent job.

UnTrained (0) 2007-05-29 6:36

Hi John,
the light on the red rocks is great. And the meadow before them makes them impressive. You really found nice colours to integrate them into a warm and bright capture. Wonderful sharpness and contrasts.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

snunney (130967) 2007-05-29 7:22

Hello John,
A great shot of this beautiful landscape in all its glory. The foreground filled with these wild flowers is beautiful and makes a lovely contrast with the red rocks standing proud against the blue sky. Lovely colours and great depth. TFS.

carper (96) 2007-05-29 7:25

a fine shot John,
great pov, nice nbalance in the shot, the light is great it's a very good photojob here.
have a nice day.
gr. jaap

jhm (202823) 2007-05-29 8:11

Hello John,

This is wonderful composition John, the rocks jump-up out the earth, what a nice contrast with the green foreground and the rain shower at the sky, splendid light too. TFS.

Best regards,
John.

scobert (5355) 2007-05-29 10:20

Hello John,
You did another beautiful rendition of our front range. Roxborough is indeed a beautiful area full of unusual rock formations. How do you consistently get these gorgeous skies! The last time I went hiking here in the Srpingtime I almost stepped on a 5 foot prairie rattlesnake. The snake blended in perfectly with the grass and all I could see was the movement of the grass until the snake was one foot in front of me. Rattlesnakes get a bad rap as they are usually not agressive and tend to mind their own business and only strike when provoked. The snake was a beautiful creature to watch. Beautiful work!
Stan

evanrizo (462) 2007-05-29 16:06

Hi John, after this wonderful green with the flowers come these impressive rocks, it is sooo good seen and composed!
A superb photo, with very nice light and the colors are ...unbelievable beautyful.
TFS
Evan

worldcitizen (14264) 2007-05-29 19:42

Hello John,
This photo is wonderful! The lighting is magical, and the combination of sun and clouds adds interesting texture. I like the earthy colors, and the way the rocks lean to the side. The DOF and feeling of open space are also great.

gunbud (34066) 2007-05-29 20:09

Hi John,
Extrordinary colors with a very dramatic sky. The great red rocks look mysterious with the combination of bright light and shadows. The wild flowers are another wonderful element to this fine landscape.
Regards, Tom

jwmunro (286) 2007-05-29 20:52

Hello John -

Very nice in deed. I have my State Park Pass but I just have not made it down there yet. I must go when I get back in town. Everything looks to be spot on. Bravo, well done.

Thank you for sharing.

John

vbl (1421) 2007-05-29 23:40

Hi John:
Magic landscape.
I like very much these vibrant colors and contrast. LIght control is perfect.
Good Job
regards, Vanessa

berseph (1758) 2007-05-30 0:00

What a gorgeous image John. I did not know of this park, and I may just have to find it. I love the lighting, and even in the darkenss the bright yellow flowers seem to pop out. What a great view. I love this time of year when everything is green; wonder how long it will stay that way.

Malyshev (2522) 2007-05-30 10:35

Great shot,John!
Fantastic colours and superb sunlight!
Bravo!
Yuri

cdmonson (5284) 2007-05-30 18:14

Hi John:

Lovely colors and subject here. I love the variety of the colors more than anything--blue, green, red, yellow, orange. The combination of the light and shadow, storm and blue skies, is awesome as well. Great job.

Clark

rgarrigus (0) 2007-05-31 2:19

Wow John!

This is really nicely done. The foreground is subtle but interesting and the light, sky and rocks all lead my eye into the picture. Time well spent. Many thanks for the informative notes as well.

anesugur (18789) 2007-05-31 2:19

Hi John,
Beautiful landscape, very nice light, colors and very good POV.
Very well done.
Best regards. Uğur

Didi (61587) 2007-05-31 13:39

Hi John
Very nice lights on the rocks with a very interesting foreground and the colours are soft and very appreciable.
Well done.
Cheers.

VeeJayCee (2410) 2007-05-31 14:00

I love the glimpses of sunlight appearing in small patches over the meadow. The clarity is superb and really shows off the red rocks against the blue sky. An excellent image John.

stego (24132) 2007-05-31 18:52

Hi John,
You insist on making us envy for having all those scenic views so close to home. :-)
I understand that you wanted to show all those Spring colours of the fg, but I think that what catches more our attention are those cliffs on the bg, for their shapes, textures and the game of light and shadow, so maybe it would be more striking if you used a tighter pov. This doesn't mean that isn't nice as it is, well at contrary.
Regards, José.

Angshu (56760) 2007-06-01 0:23

Hello John
Light & shades, wonderful colour contrasts, wonderful shapes, this is awesome. The dark sky adds to the beauty as the green grass, the tiny yellow flowers all in shade, lead us to the inclined rocks, lit up brilliantly in parts in the filtering sunlight. Superb!
Regards
Angshu

AROBN54 (11475) 2007-06-01 0:28

Daggone, John,
What an awesome shot! Ths composition is superb. I love the way the rocks angle into the shot and the light is just incredible. The color is gorgeous; the sky; and the yellow flowers are a great touch in the foreground. MADLY good shot!! All the best to you,
Shelly

bruce_wayne (1507) 2007-06-01 17:58

This is Colorado...striking!
Those rocks made a very good mood, strange atmosphere...
I like color matching of this compositio...well done John!

Bruce W.

happypoppeye (4819) 2007-06-02 15:44

John, very nice (to say the least). Spectacular lighting. Great colors and composition. I think I like this better than the cropped version. Probably because of the foreground and more of the sky in this one. Really sharp and detailed with a great foreground, and actually, background also.

I have to say that when I look at your photos I am sort of comparing them, or thinking they are similar, to Galen Rowell's. You have a really good eye for lighting above all else. Lighting, in my opinion, is oh, I don't know, somewhere around alot of percent of a good photo. Especially for landscapes.

Now I don't know if you are really good at post processing or what but, nevertheless, your ability to create a really special photo out of a landscape is a really great. Something you don't see in many photographers (including myself). The one thing that Galen has (or had) over you is a really strong focal point. Not that yours is bad but, just, his was better than great.

So great photo and great portfolio. Keep them coming.

John

adores (46979) 2007-06-03 18:50

Hi John!
This is surely a great capture! I like this composition with these rocks forming almost a diagonal and the green fields with the little yellow flowers in the foreground. The effect created by the clouds is great and then the sun that seems to reflecting only on the rocks. Great work!
Regards, Anabela

ahmetgedikli (25609) 2007-06-04 2:40

Hi john,
Wonderful spring composition!... Excellent colors, nice sky and good contrast.
Best wishes.
Ahmet

xuaxo (6854) 2007-06-05 15:08

Hi John
Great colors indeed. I like very much this mix and the very interesting rocks.
F

pboehringer (770) 2007-06-07 10:10

Your Roxborough shots are definitively beautiful, John. Each of them have a special element. This one here has the yellow flowers in the foreground that contrast extraordinarily well with the dark grey sky. In the middle the brown-red tonalities to balance betwenn both upper and lower segment of your shot.

Silke (3027) 2007-06-15 10:20

I see that I am not the only one attracted by the play of light and shadow here!
Superb colours and textures, perfect composition, a fabulous posting from start to finish
TFS
silke
:)

fserajian (2299) 2007-06-16 2:06

Hi John,
Nice work, the view point is just perfect with good lighting control and colors. very nice foregruond too, I agree with others about the yellow flowers give that extra interest. TFS

Regards,

Fara

Photo Information

Copyright: John McLaird (jmcl) (14535)
Genre: Lugares
Medium: Cor
Date Taken: 2007-05-25
Categories: Natureza
Camera: Olympus E 300, 58mm circular polarizer
Exposição: f/7.1, 1/100 segundos
Versão da Foto: Versão Original
Tema(s): Roxborough Park, Greens of Spring and Summer [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-05-29 1:30
Favoritos: 1 [ver]

Viewed: 3234

Points: 68

Discussions

To scobert: snakes (1)
by jmcl, last updated 2007-05-29 11:27
To happypoppeye: thank you .. (1)
by jmcl, last updated 2007-06-02 07:28

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