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Late September in the Rocky Mountain National Park.
The elk are rutting, the first dusting of snow has appeared on the high peaks, and great swathes of aspens and cottonwood trees have turned orange and gold prior to shedding their leaves in anticipation of the coming winter.
This is definately one of the best times of the year to be here, as my wife Liz and I discovered during our two week holiday exploring the park.
We managed quite a few of the less strenous hikes, once we'd acclimatised to the 9,000+ feet change in altitude from our home in North Wales.
One of our favourites, in terms of enjoying those wonderful fall colours, was the trail to Bierstadt Lake.
The trail took us right through the middle of groves of aspens, their leaves glowing yellow and gold in the sharp, bright, high altitude sunlight.
Every so often an individual tree would stand isolated from the main group, its leaves in stark contrast against the deep blue of the morning sky.
I made a special effort to photograph the shapeliest of these lone trees, creating a very simple image in which the colour contrast, enhanced by the use of a polarising filter, was the main compositional element.
Filename - rocky mountains autumn trees 13.jpg
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 55mm
Exposure - 1/60 sec @ f11, ISO100
Location - Bierstadt Lake Trail, Colorado, U.S.A.
This image - 533x800px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Polarising filter used to enhance colours.
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