2019: Year in Review

I can’t believe how fast time flies! Another year is already in our rear view mirrors. In fact, another decade is now in the past as we head into 2020. 2019 was a challenging year for me photographically as the worst possible disaster happened – my hard drive gave out. Fortunately, I had my older photos backed up to another source, but I had issues reinstalling my older versions of Lightroom (which I use to process my RAW images) and other post-processing software. Thanks to my computer guru stepson, who visited us in October, he was able to get my Lightroom back up and running. Unfortunately, I have to re-download most of my images I took in 2019 as I had not backed them up. Anyway, then the holidays hit and, well – let’s just say I still don’t have all my photos from 2019 downloaded to my new computer yet. Hopefully this winter I’ll get things organized and back up and running like normal. Hopefully…

I’ll quit complaining and get on with this post. From the images I do have, these are my favorite ten from 2019. As usual, these may not technically be the best, or have the most dramatic light/mood, but they are ones that resonate with me and I’m proud of the finished product. Here we go:

#10 – Sego Heaven

Spring 2019 was pretty phenomenal in terms of wildflower bloom in the desert. I captured this image on the eastern side of Rabbit Valley one afternoon in early May. These hills, just a stone’s throw from Interstate 70, were absolutely blanketed with sego lillies – white and pink. It was stunning! I love sego lillies but find them very hard to photograph as they are short in stature and normally grow as a single bloom. This year’s crop was very prolific and I did find many multi-bloom specimens while I was out exploring.

#9 – Rock Star!

In late April, my all-time favorite band, Styx, made a visit to the Avalon Theater in Grand Junction. I was fortunate enough to sit in on a telephone interview with the lead singer, Lawrence Gowan, that was conducted by a local radio station (KWSI-LP 100.3 FM). Ok, I’m being a little modest. I was instrumental in making contact with the band’s publicist and putting them in contact with the station manager, who arranged the interview. Sitting in on the interview was SUCH a blast! The concert was also a total blast! It was sold out, and I don’t think I sat down the entire time. I got this photo of Tommy Shaw as he was totally rockin’ it. I love the expression on his face as he plays but wish I would have caught the entire neck of the guitar.

#8 – Twisted (Yet Again)

If you follow my photography, you know of my fascination with twisted trees, especially junipers. This specimen is at Colorado National Monument at the Grand View overlook. It’s notoriously difficult to photograph due to its placement and proximity to drop offs. I was very pleased with this version that I captured in May 2019, with some cool clouds behind it and early evening sun.

#7 – Mesa Sego

Due to the late start of summer in 2019, the wildflower bloom started a bit later than I’m used to. I made several trips up to the Grand Mesa once things got rolling, and I captured this image of a Gunnison Sego Lilly. Although they are related to the sego lillies seen in my favorite #10 above, they are a bit different – taller, and they grow in higher altitudes. I love photographing wildflowers – they just make me happy!

#6 – Dead Horse Winter Sunrise

I love Dead Horse Point at sunrise – taking a photograph there years ago literally changed the course of my life. Therefore, I visit DHP fairly often, and early last year shortly after a snowfall, I headed over for sunrise. I made a huge faux pas on this photographic journey and somehow accidentally cranked my ISO up to 6400. Oops! The photos I took that morning had a little grain and noise, but with a little help in post-processing, several of them turned out not half bad. This one was taken about a half hour after sunrise, as the sun started to illuminate the juniper hanging on the ledge.

#5 – Bryce Canyon

In April, we took a trip down to southwest Utah, which we had not explored yet. We spent a magical afternoon at Bryce Canyon, then also spent part of one day at Zion, and the remainder of the time exploring around Hurricane, Utah. The day we were at Bryce, the sun kept peeking in and out of the clouds, creating awesome spotlighting on the myriad of hoodoos. I’m sure Bryce is beautiful any time of year, but add some white on top and it’s off the charts amazing.

#4 – Raber Cow Camp

The historic Raber Cow Camp is located on the Land’s End Road on the Grand Mesa. I took the afternoon off from work on this day to check out the wildflowers and was disappointed when the weather didn’t cooperate. It rained on me almost the entire time I was up there. But very late in the afternoon, a magical break appeared in the sky and that’s when I captured this image.

#3 – County Road 9

This is one of my favorite roads for fall foliage – County Road 9 just outside Ridgway. It encompasses incredible views of the Dallas Divide area. Last fall, I got up at oh dark thirty in order to reach this spot before sunrise. Although I got a few sunrise images that were great, this one (which was taken probably a half hour after sunrise) was one of my favorites and made my 2019 list. I really like how the light is hitting that little bunch of aspens in the lower left of the frame.

#2 – Grand Fall

The Grand Mesa is another of my favorite fall-time haunts. It turns a bit earlier than the area around Ridgway. On this day, the sun was playing peek a boo, creating some pretty cool lighting. I was up above the Mesa Lakes area when I captured this one. The light and my use of a telephoto lens to compress the background really created a lot of depth and interest in this image.

Ok, now for my very favorite of the year!

#1 – Turret Arch

Only one black & white image made my list this year, and I captured it pretty early in 2019. I was at Arches National Park one afternoon (midday-ish of course) and was walking around the Windows area when I got this. When I downloaded the images onto my computer, I liked this one but the color version wasn’t really doing it for me, so I converted to black & white and BOOM! Suddenly those layers and bands of thin clouds popped out at me. That, along with the the diagonal composition, gives this one a very dynamic flow.

As for accomplishments, not a lot to talk about. I did continue my consecutive streak (now up to 10 years) of getting at least one photo in the Colorado National Monument’s annual calendar. For the 2020 version, I have one large monthly photo and two small grid photos.

I hope all of you have a great 2020 with great light, clouds & drama – and no computer crashes or glitches!!

Natural Images Photography