People look at the above photo and almost immediately ask “what’s up with those funky clouds?” I tell them that this isn’t a straight picture, it’s a reflection out of a mud puddle. “Ooohhhhhh, now I see.” The inversion of this image so that the mountain is pointing up totally throws people off. It’s kind of funny to me, but it also makes me wonder how good of an idea it was to flip it 180° to satisfy my feelings on what looks better.

Compare the shot above to the original below:

Which works better for you? Or should I not have gone through all this, and instead used a different image I captured, from a little further out, that really puts the scene in context?

Me being me, I naturally continue to like the first the best. I think if it makes people talk, then it can’t be all bad, right?

Last week when I went to Beaver Creek, I took some time to drive up near Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks. The idea was to get a shot of the great fall colors. Turns out though, that my favorite picture from that sidetrip is this one. It is a reflection of Gray’s Peak in a mud puddle that was in the middle of the forest service road. I rotated it so the mountain was upright, and I think it is an incredibly clear reflection of the mountain. Couldn’t have planned a shot like this, it just happened. The big question to me is if you like it upright like this, or should I have left it upside down?

Last week I had the privilege of staying at the Park Hyatt Resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado for the 2008 Governor’s Colorado Tourism Conference. The event was a huge success, and the keynote’s and breakout’s alike were immensely valuable.

One thing that kept getting mentioned was how intense the fall colors were. A co-worker and I drove up Wednesday morning. Along the way we stopped near Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks to take in the color and snap some photos. I hate doing my PP work on my laptop (the photo above was done on the laptop and I think it is time to recalibrate the color on it), so I saved most of them until this week. I’ll work on the post processing and get the photos online in the next few days. I think I got some good shots, including some beetle kill ones that might make for good stock imagery, since that is such a hot topic these days.

Sadly, the beautiful color may not have lasted through the weekend. As we were leaving Beaver Creek on Friday afternoon, storms were blowing in with a fury. And I saw on the news last night that it was snowing pretty good in the mountains. That usually equates to the leaves being knocked off the trees. Hopefully you were able to experience it while it was there, I can’t remember the last time the colors were so vivid. By the way, the photo above is the view from my room at the conference.