Fall colors… at night???

Friday night, I had all good intentions of getting caught up at home and resting a sore neck and shoulder over the weekend. Then I get a text message from my friend Marlene that read: “You need to get up to the mountains, the colors are beautiful. The cabin is open if you want it.” Well, I thought… maybe the house and body ailments can wait another week. I was up at the cabin the next morning.

I spent the day exploring Leadville’s back country, revisiting some of the old abandoned mines, and finding new ones. Including an old bus. Looks like I found the Leadville shooting range! Anyway… with the exception of a few photos, I just wasn’t getting the shots I wanted.

Returning to the cabin for dinner and a little relaxation, I waited for night to fall to prepare for my next shot… Fall Colors at Night. And it was a perfect night to try it. No clouds, no moon, and armed with a 450 lumens spotlight to light up the colors! BINGO! Got the shots! So how was this done? I’m glad you asked. I used my favorite 14mm ultrawide lens, set the camera to 1600 ISO, and had an exposure of 25 seconds. During that time, I would take the spotlight and do a quick pass of light across the trees. As I was setting up the last shot and shining this blinding light into the trees, I saw two shiny things resembling a set of eyes staring back at me. Was it the Honey-Badger? Na… Honey-Badger wouldn’t care. Could it have been that damn Sasquatch???  Perhaps it was just a deer, I kept telling myself, as I B-lined it back to the car.

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