The Terra Galleria Blog – QT Luong

Here’s this year’s meta-list of best photobooks. It started with the shortlists for the Aperture Photobook Awards 2015, Foto Book Festival Kassel expert selection and Rencontres d’Arles Book Awards, and continued with Olga’s compilation of lists at phot(O)lia, which I encourage you to visit to follow the links to those lists.

The methodology is the same as for my meta-lists of previous years (2012, 2013, 2014). Unlike previous years, I won’t update the 2015 meta-list further. It takes a lot of work, and I am focusing time on my own book. Due to the subject and style, I do not expect it to be included in any of next year’s lists, but I think that a lot of readers will like it.

The meta-list is independent from the grand daddy of lists, the Photo-Eye 2015 Best Photobooks list, which includes 24 lists, and selected 17 titles with 3 or more votes. At this early (and this year, final) stage, the meta-list is quite comparable in size, as it uses 28 lists. In it, 30 titles total 3 or more votes. 10 titles appear in both lists, and the top vote of both lists is the same.

(8 votes)
Moisés. MARIELA SANCARI La Fabrica

(7 votes)
Deadline. WILL STEACY b.frank books
Songbook. ALEC SOTH Mack

(6 votes)
In the Shadow of Pyramids. LAURA EL-TANTAWY Self-published
Until Death Do Us Part THOMAS SAUVIN Jiazazhi Press

(5 votes)
Imperial Courts 1993–2015. DANA LIXENBERG Roma Publications
Life is Elsewhere. SOHRAB HURA Self-published
Missing Buildings. THOM & BETH ATKINSON Hwæt Books
Prophet. GEERT GOIRIS Roma Publications
You Haven’t Seen Their Faces. DANIEL MAYRIT Riot Books

(4 votes)
(in matters of) Karl. ANNETTE BEHRENS Fw:Books
Find A Fallen Star. REGINE PETERSEN Kehrer
Fire In Cairo. MATTHEW CONNORS SPBH Editions
Immerse. DAISUKE YOKOTA Akkina
LDN EI. ANTHONY CAIRNS Self-published
Lago. RON JUDE Mack
Taking off. Henry My Neighbour. MARIKEN WESSELS Art Paper Editions
Taratine. DAISUKE YOKOTA Session Press

(3 votes)
Before the War. ALEJANDRO CARTAGENA Self published
Bottom of the Lake. CHRISTIAN PATTERSON Koenig Books
Good 70s. MIKE MANDEL J&L Books/D.A.P.
Greetings from Auschwitz. PAWEŁ SZYPULSKI Edition Patrick Frey/Foundation for Visual Arts
Kumogakure Onsen (Reclusive Travels). MAZAKAZU MURAKAMI
Modoru Okinawa. KEIZO KITAJIMA Gomma books
Negatives. XU YONG New Century Press
Nude Animal Cigar. PAUL KOOIKER Art Paper Editions
Paper Planes. SJOERD KNIBBELER FW: Books
Shoji Ueda. SHOJI UEDA Chose Commune
Tones of Dirt and Bone. MIKE BRODIE Twin Palms
Wealth Management. CARLOS SPOTTORNO

(2 votes)
10 Days in Kraków. YUANYUAN YANG
A Handful of Dust. DAVID CAMPANY Mack
Albumas. SKUDZINSAS GYTIS Noroutine Books
Anna Konda. KATARZYNA MAZUR Dienacht Publishing
Blank Pages of an Iranian Photo Album. NEWSHA TAVAKOLIAN
Diary. BORIS MIKHAILOV. Walter Koenig
Dirt Meridian. ANDREW MOORE Damiani
Dzogchen. VINCENT DELBROUCK Self-published
Edges of the Experiment. MARIE-JOSÉ JONGERIUS & HANS GREMMEN
Erasure. FAZAL SHEIKH Steidl
I do not want to disappear silently into the night. KATRIEN DE BLAUWER Avarie
Illustrated People. THOMAS MAILAENDER Archive of Modern Conflict/RVB Books
In Search of Lost Memories. HAJIME KIMURA Self-published
Jean-Jaurès. GILLES RAYNALDY Purpose Éditions
Life is One Live it Well. HENRIK MALMSTRÖM Kominek
My Last Day at Seventeen. DOUG DUBOIS Aperture
Occupied Pleasures. TANYA HABJOUQA FotoEvidence
Révélations. JAVIER VIVER RM
Ser Sangre. IÑAKI DOMINGO RM Verlag/La Kursala/Here Press
Silent Histories. KAZUMA OBARA
Southern Rites. GILLIAN LAUB Damiani
Sunless. TIANE DOAN NA CHAMPASSAK
Teleplay, Pt 1. CATHARINE MALONEY Skinnerbox
The Chinese Photobook From the 1900s to the Present. WASSINKLUNDGREN & MARTIN PARR Aperture
The Complete Works. KOU INOSE
The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar. JAMEY STILLINGS Steidl
The encyclopedia of Kurt Caviezel. KURT CAVIEZEL Rorhof
The whale’s eyelash. PRUS TIMOTHY Archive of Modern Conflict Books
Transmission. LUCY HELTON Silas Finch
Unfinished Father. ERIK KESSELS RVB Books

If you are wondering how the meta-list changes as it incorporates more lists, compare the final 2014 meta-list with its initial version, which was posted on Dec 9, 2014, and that I am reproducing below.

(8 votes)
Hidden Islam. NICOLÓ DEGIORGIS Rorhof

(5 votes)
The Epilogue. LAIA ABRIL Dewi Lewis
Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty. MAX PINCKERS self-published

(4 votes)
Back to the Future (limited edition). IRINA WERNING self-published
Carpoolers. ALEJANDRO CARTEGENA self-published
Disco Night Sept. 11. PETER VAN AGTMAEL red hook
The Winners. RAFAL MILACH GOST Books

(3 votes)
Euromaidan. VLADYSLAV KRASNOSHCHOK & SERGIY LEBEDYNSKYY Riot Books
Linger (Teikai). DAISUKE YOKOTA Akina Books
No Pain. Whatsoever KEN GRANT Journal
Ponte City. MIKHAEL SUBOTZKY & PATRICK WATERHOUSE Steidl
Sequester. AWOISKA VAN DER MOLEN Fw: Books
Trepat. JOAN FONTCUBERTA Éditions Bessard

(2 votes)
19.06_26.08.1945. ANDREA BOTTO Danilo Montanari
Anhill (meteorites). AUGUSTIN REBETEZ RVB Books
Centro. FELIPE RUSSO self-published
Congo. PAOLO PELLEGRIN & ALEX MAJOLI Aperture
Does Yellow Run Forever? PAUL GRAHAM Mack
Go There. GEN SAKUMA Roshin books
I. EAMONN DOYLE self-published
Imaginary Club. OLIVER SIEBER GwinZegal and BöhmKobayashi
Italia O Italia. FEDERICO CLAVARINO Akina
Karaoke Sunne. JH ENGSTRÖM & MARGOT WALLARD Super Labo
Land Without a Past. PHILIP EBELING Fishbar
Photographs for Documents. VYTAUTAS V. STANIONI Kaunas Photography Gallery
Pigeons. STEPHEN GILL Nobody
Printed in Germany. CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS Walther Konig
Red Ball of a Sun Slipping Down. EUGENE RICHARDS Many Voices Press
Red String. YOSHIKATSU FUJII self-published
Reenactment MSf. ARWED MESSMER Hatje Cantz
Rich and Poor. JIM GOLDBERG Steidl
Silent Histories. KAZUMA OBARA self-published
Something like a Nest. ANDY SEWELL self-published
Strange Paradise. CHARLIE RUBIE Conveyor Editions
Syria Al-Assad. OLIVER HARTUNG Spector Books
Taxmonomy of a Landscape. VICTORIA SAMBUNARIS Radius
The Night Climbers of Cambridge. THOMAS MAILAENDER Archive of Modern Conflict
The Plot Thickens. JEFFREY FRAENKEL Fraenkel Gallery
The United States 2003-2013. MOSSLESS MAGAZINE
Tranquility. HEIKKI KASKI Lecturis
Typology. 1979 JOACHIM BROHM Mack
Vertigo. DAISUKE YOKOTA Newfave
Vienna MMix 10008/7000. JULES SPINATSCH Scheidegger and Spiess
Wild Pigeon. CAROLYN DRAKE self-published

Glacier National Park is renowned for its wildness, and the wildest part of Glacier is the North Fork. The most isolated section of the park that can be reached by vehicle, the region offers the adventurous photographer a chance to enjoy an experience away from the crowds.

The NPS management plan for Glacier National Park states that North Fork visitor facilities will preserve a primitive character. It forbids commercial development and vows to keep the Inside North Fork Road narrow and unpaved. The visitation is greatly reduced by those rough roads. You won’t find the traffic of the Going-to-the-Sun road here! However, the Outside road is definitively passable by regular cars if driven carefully (the speed limit is 20 miles per hour). Last fall, the rougher Inside road was closed. You can drive right to the edge of Bowman Lake and Kintla Lake, the region’s highlights. The drive in itself is a great journey out of the beaten path.

A mile from the park’s northwestern entrance, the rustic, off-the-grid outpost of Polebridge offers lodging and food, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Because the camping stores in the park were closed, I couldn’t find a cartridge for my compact foreign stove, so I had to content myself with uncooked Ramen noodles for dinner. When I walked into the charming Polebridge Mercantile store, I was delighted to smell their array of freshly baked goods. They would be delicious anywhere, but were a particular treat there.

Bowman Lake is the third largest lake in the park, after Lake McDonald and Saint Mary Lake. It is close enough from Polebridge (6 miles via a bumpy, unpaved road) that you could stay there if you don’t want to camp. The campground is very quiet, but it is primitive. From my campsite, I rolled out of bed and walked to the shore.

The peaks of the Continental Divide form spectacular backdrops on the eastern end of the lake. Due to the lake’s orientation, the light is normally good both at sunrise and sunset, but the sky was cloudy early, and cleared only in mid-morning. A few campers came to admire the view, but stayed near the boat launch. Walking along the untrameled shore east of it, I found a more interesting foreground with stones partly emerging from the water (opening image).

Kintla Lake, the fourth largest lake in the park, is only slightly smaller than Bowman Lake. Kintla Lake is even quieter than Bowman Lake. The small campground, Glacier National Park’s most remote frontcountry campground, is right at the edge of the water.

Unlike at Bowman Lake, no motorized boats are allowed, making it a great place to explore by kayak. However, I was glad that I did not get on the water that day. Only half an hour after I made the previous image, menacing clouds began to roll in. The wind calmed suddently before the rain. After taking advantage of the situation to photograph the reflections, I hopped in the car just as the first drops of water fell.

The 15-mile drive from Polebridge to Kintla Lake, on an unpaved road, takes about 45 minutes. Even if you didn’t visit the lake, it would be a rewarding journey through scenery not not found in the rest of the park, such as large meadows, and the North Fork of the Flathead River. Autumn colors along the way were beautiful at the beginning of October. Contributing to the sense of wildness, I did not see more than a dozen other cars along the whole road.

More images of Glacier National Park’s North Fork

In my quest to photograph fall foliage in each of the National Parks, I traveled to Glacier National Park this autumn. In this post, I report on the superb and relatively unknown color I found in the park, breaking it down region by region.

Unlike the mountains of the east coast, or even the Rocky Mountains further south, Glacier National Park is not a popular fall color destination. Witness how long it even took me to undergo this trip! This may be because by the end of September, all concessions (lodges and park stores) and many park services such as campgrounds and visitor centers have closed down. I was a bit surprised that so many amenities were closed, because the weather was just perfect, and the park beautiful at the beginning of October. I was told that the reason for those relatively early closures is that the NPS needs to prepare the park for the long winter by removing infrastructure that would otherwise been damaged by the snow.

Those closures mean that you need to be a bit more self-sufficient to visit Glacier National Park during the fall than in the summer. I wasn’t able to find a cartridge for my stove nearby, so I ended up eating uncooked Ramen noodles for several days. On the other hand, most of visitors have gone home. While in early September, it is common for all the campgrounds to be filled, in early October I never had any problem to find a site in the evening. In the more remote areas of the park, I sometimes had the impression that I had the park to myself.

The park is magnificent in the fall. Fall foliage can be found in all sides. It is particularly rich thanks to a larger variety of trees than in other Rocky Mountain parks. Besides the usual aspen and cottonwoods, they include including birch, Rocky Mountain maple and Western larch. The west side of the park changes color starting in mid-September, while the change on the east side occurs in late September. The larch trees growing at higher elevation are the last to change, in mid-October.

The West Side

Thanks to the abundant rain, the West Side of Glacier is characterized by extensive old growth forests reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest. Deciduous trees mix with them, so foliage displays the brilliant golds juxtaposed against the greens of the conifers. Look for it along the shores of Lake McDonald, and along the Going-to-the-Sun road. Even on a quiet walk in a pure evergreen forests, I found color on the undergrowth.

The North Fork

Glacier is renowned for its wildness, and the wildest part of Glacier is the North Fork. I saw many larch trees in the region, but in early October they hadn’t turned yet. A mid-october visit to Bowman Lake or Kintla Lake should be spectacular since they line up the shores. Like for the North Cascades Larches, a separate trip is required to capture the color of larches. On the other hand, at lower elevations, such as along the North Fork of the Flathead River, aspen were bright yellow.

St Mary Lake

The hillsides that form the North shore of St Mary Lake had an abundance of color, often solid gold. Taking advantage of a cloudy day, I parked on the side of the road and wandered uphill to find intimate forest scenes with aspen. However, my favorite images of the area contrasted the color of lakeshore cottonwoods with the greys of a burned forest using the same light (a sunny afternoon lended a very different character to that area).

Many Glacier

The road leading to Swiftcurrent Lake was lined up with trees in autumn foliage, although at even slightly higher elevations, such as around Apikuni Falls, the color was more sparse. Further north, the Chief Mountain International Highway (outside of the park) is also a prime fall color destination. Generally speaking, more aspens grow along the east slope of the Lewis Range than on the west side.

Two Medicine Lake

While the shores of Two Medicine Lake are dominated by conifers, I found color along the lower part of Two Medicine Valley, including the shores of Lower Two Medicine Lake. Along the south route around the park, Highway Two, miles of golden aspen lit up the foothills.

I hope those images have inspired you to plan a trip to Glacier National Park in the autumn. I am certainly planning to return one of those years, likely in mid-October to see the larches with hopefully fresh snow!

More images of Glacier National Park autumn foliage.

Away from the main road and communities, the relatively little-known Wild Basin area offers a quieter experience in Rocky Mountain National Park, perfect for a cloudy day if you enjoy photographing moving water.

Following a peaceful forested stream, you can photograph four diverse waterfalls within a 6 mile RT hike (950 feet elevation gain).

Since your main subject is flowing water, you should bring a tripod. It lets you use long exposures to render water as a smooth flow. Using a polarizer, I found that at ISO 50 (lowest available on my camera) and f/11-f/16, I could get exposures in the 1/4s-1s range, which smoothed the water while retaining some texture. The polarizer has the additional benefit of removing the surface glare from wet rocks. This makes them darker, creating contrast with the flowing water.

Despite all this water, I had trouble to find something to drink. In September, there were plenty of room in the USFS Olive Ridge Campground where I stayed, close to the Wild Basin entrance. However, there was no running water. Although the official NPS map states that water is available at the entrance station, I found it had been turned off there. I certainly didn’t want to drive 14 miles to Estes Park just to refill my water bottles! In the nearby small community of Allenspark, businesses were closed in the early morning. Fortunately, an innkeeper helpfully pointed me to a public source of water. Called Crystal Springs, it is located by the Allenspark business route Highway 7 up the road from the Fawnbrook Inn. The water is filtered directly from a mountain spring, keeping a delightfully fresh taste.

Copeland Lake

Shortly past the entrance station, Copeland Lake offers a decent roadside view with the reflection of Mount Copeland in the early morning. On that mostly cloudy day, I waited patiently for a bit of sunshine.

Copeland Falls

The first waterfalls, Lower and Upper Copeland Falls are less than 0.5 mile from the trailhead. North St. Vrain Creek drops only about fifteen feet there, but there are many compositions possible along the secondary trail that follows the creek between the two waterfalls. Even on a sunny day, if you arrive early enough, the creek will still be in the shade.

Calypso Cascades

Calypso Cascades is 2 mile from the trailhead, and is most easily photographed from the footbridge. Taking advantage of the autumn’s low flow, I also tried to scramble on the rocks for a different composition with a closer foreground. The staircase-like succession of drops should be a spectacular sight earlier in the season.

Ouzel Falls

The last waterfall, Ouzel Falls, is one of the most spectacular in the park. Ouzel Falls is quite distant from the bridge, but you can leave the main trail just before it, and follow a user trail to the base of the waterfall. Ouzel Falls faces south-east.

Cloudy weather works best for most of this hike. In such weather, I focussed on a close-up of Ouzel Falls, whereas in more sunny conditions, I would have tried to include it as part of a larger landscape.

View more images of Rocky Mountain National Park

Part 3 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3

Bear Lake is one of the classic locations in Rocky Mountain National Park. The popular destination is the start of a moderate trail that takes you to four lakes of different character in less than four miles (RT). This post gives tips for photography along the not-to-be-missed trail.

You can can park nearby and circle Bear Lake on a flat trail. As it is easily accessed and is a major trailhead, Bear Lake can become crowded during the day, requiring the use of the free shuttle. As I arrived before dawn, I had no problem parking. Since, based on previous visits, I prefer the afternoon light there, in the morning, I bypassed Bear Lake for the lakes further up the trail, and photographed it on the way back.

Nymph Lake

Nymph Lake (1 mile RT, 225 feet elevation gain) is partly covered with water lilies. You can photograph towards the continental divide in the morning, however only the tops of the peaks are visible. In the afternoon, distant Longs Peak is well illuminated and visible from the west shore. You’ll also find several openings on the trail above Nymph Lake with good views of Longs Peak.

Dream Lake

Dream Lake (2.2 miles RT, 425 feet elevation gain) is at the ideal distance from Flattop Mountain and Hallett Peak, which are prominent from there, but not too close. Since it is said to be the most photographed lake in the park, it can be useful to show up before sunrise to claim your spot for the classic composition near the outlet.

Emerald Lake

The peaks rise straight from Emerald Lake (3.6 miles RT, 625 feet elevation gain), which makes the setting awe-inspiring, but more difficult to photograph – super-wide angle needed! An easy scramble up slabs left of the trail gave me a higher viewpoint. Like for Dream Lake, the best light is from sunrise to early morning. Afterwards, the face of Hallet Peaks goes in the shade.

Bear Lake

Compared to the lakes along the trail, Bear Lake has less of an alpine character. It feels a bit ensconced, especially at the point when you first come upon the shore, with Flattop Mountain and Hallett Peak partly hidden.

However, if you walk counter-clockwise a short (0.25 miles RT) distance to a boulder field on the north shore, you’ll find a more open view which includes Longs Peak in the distance. Rocks provide a foreground and cut the waves for better reflections. Longs Peak is better lit at sunset, but sunrise can sometimes work.

From there, if you are up to scrambling up the boulder field, you‘ll discover a fine view from high above. From an opening between trees, you can photograph the lake in the middle ground, and Longs Peak in the background. The spot is most remarkable in the autumn, when yellow-colored aspens border the field to the west, and orange-colored aspens border it on the east. The aspen are sunlit from the morning to mid/late afternoon, and go in the shade at sunset – which is fine if you can control the dynamic range.

Continuing counter-clockwise along the shore, views of surrounding mountains disappear, but the slope where you found the boulder field and aspen makes for fine reflections in autumn.

View more images of Rocky Mountain National Park

Part 2 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3

Bear Lake Road is the most popular area of Rocky Mountain National Park because it gives quick access to locations which are representative of the beauty of the park. It had been a decade and half since my last visit there. In the while I had been traveling to less crowded parts of the park. However, I wanted to refresh my memory for the benefit of readers of my upcoming book, and also update my photos of the area which were shot on 35mm film – not those in this post, which are all large format. This post revisit in detail two contrasting spots along the Bear Lake Road.

Amongst the lakes situated along Bear Lake Road, Sprague Lake is the easiest to access. It provides a view of the Continental Divide which is one of the most iconic in the park. It is the first lake you’ll encounter on the road. The other trailheads further up the road often fill up in the early morning, requiring you to use the free shuttle. At Sprague Lake, parking is easy. Little hiking is required, which makes it a convenient sunrise location. When you come upon the shoreline, you’ll see the east side. Unless there is a spectacular sky on the east, you’ll want to continue counterclockwise until you can look towards the west towards the Continental Divide.

I kept walking (about a quarter of a mile) until I reached the east end of the lake. There were many photographers on the lake shore, but I was surprised to see that most of them had set up closer to the trailhead. I think the further east you go, the better the perspective is, because you are further from the western shoreline. This makes the peaks stand out above the trees, which also appear smaller compared to the peaks. You can see that by comparing with the night photo I made on the way.

The other benefit of photographing from the east end of the lake is that you can find boulders in the water to help anchor the composition. One photographer was camped near what I thought was the round boulder I used for a foreground a decade and half ago. I tried to find an alternative before concluding that, back then, I had indeed picked up the “best” spot. I asked the photographer the permission to set up next to him. Upon closer examination, I remarked that there was a second, flatter rock on the left. When I mentioned to the photographer that I did not remember it, he told me it had been there for a long time.

The light was weak at sunrise, but it would have been a bad idea to pack and leave, as the light improved in the following hour, in conjunction with some interesting clouds. Upon returning home, I checked my 1999 image (marked 2008 because it is the date of publication). Sure enough, the flat rock wasn’t present, maybe due to the higher water level in the springtime.

While I expected to be able to find the spot of my 1999 Sprague Lake image, I wasn’t so sure about the forest scenes that I photographed in the fall of 1998. The former is one of the park’s icons, whereas the latter is a scene which seemingly could be found anywhere. I remembered spending several hours at a mere boulder field surrounded by aspen on both sides, that offered many different compositions. I was particularly attracted to a few small trees growing close together out of the boulders, which had colorful leaves. However, at that time, I didn’t take note, nor did I memorize the location.

Driving up the Bear Lake Road, I noticed a steep boulder field on the north side, about 0.7 miles before the Glacier Gorge trailhead. There is room for a few cars in the curve and more at the nearby Prospect Canyon pull-out.

I scrambled up the boulders, and here they were, my old friends. Out of all the trees in the park, I had found the same nondescript aspens I had photographed seventeen years earlier!

View more images of Rocky Mountain National Park

Part 1 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3

Possibly the most rewarding destination in Great Sand Dunes National Preserve, Mount Herard offers to off-trail hiker fantastic views over the the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the dune field. Read more about this seldom-visited peak, and find detailed directions to navigate to the summit.

There are no established trails in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve that give good views of the dune field from higher. One can find such a view slightly outside the park, at the Zapata Falls Recreation Area, 8 miles south of the national park. You can photograph right from the edge of the parking area. More varied forest foregrounds are available near the waterfall (1 mile RT), if you are willing to scramble a bit on the slopes above. However, the dunes are a bit distant from there and the perspective reminiscent of the entrance road.

Although information about hiking up Mount Herard – the prominent 13,345 feet mountain that dominates the dune field – is scarce, I figured it out that the summit would provide a more striking view. Mount Herard is of modest elevation by Colorado standards, but it soars a full mile above the Great Sand Dunes.

Starting from half a mile west of Medano Pass – reached through the Medano Pass Road (an adventure by itself), a trail reaches Medano Lake (8 miles RT, 2000 feet elevation gain). The lake is situated in a dramatic cirque of mountains below Mount Herard. From there, the summit of Mount Herard towers impressively above you. If you stopped there, the hike would already be worth it.

Morning light illuminates the cirque of mountains around the lake best. Since I had returned from the Sand Creek Lake hike quite late the day before, and I planned to summit in the late afternoon, I started at a relatively late time. When I arrived at Medano Lake, the cirque was backlit and the sky cloudy. I didn’t try to photograph it. Instead, I planned to use the same trick as before: photographing with the rising moon as a substitute for morning light.

When I started on the trail, I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to go to the summit. Because of my sprained ankle, the most I had walked all summer was a 2-mile stroll on the sidewalk. At the beginning of this trip, I felt tired after the shorter hikes I had done in Rocky Mountain National Park. Summiting required an additional 1800 feet of elevation gain without the benefit of an established trail. This makes for a total hike of about 3,800 feet elevation gain, and about 10 miles RT.

However, I knew that it was the easiest time of the year for this hike. Most of the year, the Medano Pass Road is closed. In the early fall, there is no snow on the ground and no risk of thunderstorms. While pausing on the shores of Medano Lake, I was able to trace a moderate route to the summit. Once I started, I was pleased to see that I’d be hiking on alpine tundra rather than rocks. Luck favors those who try. After less than fifteen minutes of cross-country hiking, I ran into a fairly good user trail, which happened to follow exactly the route that I had traced! At that point, I knew I would be able to make it.

To find the user trail from the start, look for it from the established trail when it skirts the smaller (northernmost) of the two lakes, climbing diagonally the slope to the northwest. It becomes less defined at a wide saddle, although cairns continue to mark the way up a narrower saddle, then a steeper and partly rocky ridge that leads to the rounded summit. Here is my GPS track for the day.

The view in all directions were well worth the effort. The Crestone group lies to the north, the Blanca mountains to the south. The summit is flat, but by hiking down a bit to the southwest of the summit plateau, I took in an extraordinary perspective on the dune field – the best high view in the park. It was indeed much better than from Zapata Falls because you are considerably closer and higher. From there, the 750 feet dunes look small. Like from points below, the light on the dune field is best in late afternoon, which is when I had timed my arrival.

I lingered on the summit until sunset. On the way down, hiking poles were of great help on the steep ridge. It was reassuring to have a GPS track to follow in the dark thanks to Gaia GPS. By the time I got back to the Medano Lake trail, the moon had risen. Instead of continuing down the trail, I made a short detour to photograph the lake as I had planned. This capped a great day in the mountains which was all the more satisfying because of the uncertainty with which it had started.

Part 3 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3

View images of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

If you are wondering what you’ll find in the mountains behind the Great Sand Dunes, and don’t care for hiking on trails, you may consider driving the primitive Medano Pass road. Not your vanilla scenic drive, traversing its tricky terrain requires the proper vehicle and a bit of planning. The reward is the opportunity to discover the often overlooked mountain environment of the park, particularly glorious in autumn.

The Medano Pass road is only 22 miles long, however it usually takes 2-3 hours to drive. The Park Service says that a high-clearance, 4WD is required. They state that “Mini-SUVs, wagons, and all-wheel drive vehicles will get stuck”, and based on my experience, I believe them. Although I’ve been on much more difficult roads (such as Teapot Canyon in the Maze of Canyonlands), I find that the combination of deep sands, creek crossings, and rocky and steep sections presents a unique challenge. Here’s the NPS detailed Medano Pass road guide. The road is usually open from Memorial Day week-end through the first serious snows in October.

Starting from the west side, the first obstacle you encounter is a 4 miles section of soft sand, between the aptly named “Point of No Return” and the “Sand Ramp Trail”. The sand is pretty deep in some places. In June 1999, I was driving a Jeep Cherokee, a capable high-clearance, 4WD vehicle, but as it was my first time driving in such conditions, I failed to keep the momentum going and got stuck. I got lucky that, a group of hikers helped me by pushing the car. After that incident, I did not dare to stop in the sandy section, missing out on some great views of the dune field from the east.

Between the west end of the road and Medano Pass, there are 8 places where Medano Creek crosses the road. There are no bridges, so you must ford the creek. On that June drive, I found the crossings very intimidating. Some were so long and deep that I was always afraid that the car would not make it. The creek was flowing strong, and you could not see the bottom – which fortunately is rocky rather than muddy. The park rangers drive Jeep Wranglers equipped with snorkels for good reason. However, on my second visit, in September, the crossings were easy in the low water conditions.

Complicating matters further, a rocky roadbed near the pass requires full tire pressure, whereas in some conditions, dropping tire pressure may be necessary to increase traction in the sandy sections. Unless you carry an air compressor, it is best to drive the road from east to west, as a free air compressor is available at the western entrance to the road. The eastern end of the road starts on County Road 559, along Hwy 69, about 16 miles south of Westcliffe, and is marked with a sign.

Remembering my difficulties in the sand fifteen years ago, and given that the vehicle that I rented (AWD with 8 inch of ground clearance) was less off-road worthy, I played it safe by driving from the east and returning that way. I skipped entirely the sandy section by turning back before reaching it. The rangers had discouraged me to even attempt that itinerary with my vehicle. I saw less than a dozen other vehicles, all of them pretty rugged. Another driver commented that the road was rough for my Ford Edge. However, I had no difficulties.

The drive was particularly rewarding in late September, when the golden aspen provide some of the most colorful fall foliage I’ve seen in any of the western national parks. The most beautiful section was near Medano Pass. There are also great views of Mt Herard near Medano Pass, with the best light being at sunrise and early morning. You can camp at a number of designated primitive campsites along the road. They are secluded and never fill up, unlike the Pinyon Flats campground, which was full on a late September week-end. Last, but not least Medano Pass is the trailhead for Medano Lake and Mt Herard, which will be the subject of the next posting.

Part 2 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3

View images of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is known for the tallest dunes in North America. However, they are just the centerpiece of a diverse environment which includes the entire natural geologic and hydrologic system of the dunes. If you interested in little-photographed and beautiful mountain terrain in Colorado, read about my foray in Sand Creek Valley, the remote corner of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, where I found scenery very different from what you’d expect from the park.

Many photographs of the Sand Dunes include as a background the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains, which rises above 13,000 feet in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The sand dunes form only a quarter of the parkland (the national park part), while the mountains dominate the rest (the preserve part). Great Sand Dunes was established as a national Monument in 1932, protecting only the main dune field. National Monuments generally preserve a single resource. By contrast, National Parks generally preserve a variety of resources, up to an entire ecosystem. Great Sand Dunes was expanded into a national park and preserve four times the size of the national monument in 2004.

Despite their surface area, the mountains receive a tiny portion of the visitation in the park. It’s a difficult access. I had traveled to Great Sand Dunes four times before, but my only foray in the mountains was one drive along the Medano Pass road in June, which turned out to be so intimidating that I made only a few stops along the way.

As of September 2015, I thought that the lack of images of the mountains of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve was one of the largest hole in my coverage of the 59 US national parks. I had also done quite a few warm-weather trip and was itching for the mountains. I hoped that the rented SUV in Denver would be more off-pavement worthy than our cars. It was disappointing to discover that all the mid-size vehicles on offer had only AWD with moderate clearance, not the high-clearance 4WD which the Park Service deems necessary to travel the more rugged roads in the park. Only the larger, full-size SUVs had 4WD.

My first objective was to check out the Music Pass and the Sand Creek Lakes, which are said by the NPS to have stunning alpine scenery. The pass was given this poetic name because musical sounds are supposedly heard when the wind blows over the surrounding mountains.

The distance as the crow flies from the Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center to the Music Pass trailhead is only about 10 miles. However, if you avoid the Medano Pass Road, as I did, you have to make a huge detour. The recommended route by Google Maps, via US-160 and CO-69, which minimizes driving on unpaved roads, takes 143 miles! This can be shortened a bit using a shortcut through unpaved roads through Pass Creek Pass. Those unpaved roads are well-maintained. To my surprise, the navigation app “Here” (details) gave me accurate directions through them, although it was a bit disconcerting to be directed from one unpaved road into another for a while. If you don’t use the app, the easiest way to find that trailhead is to follow CO-69, 4.5 miles south of Westcliffe. Turn west on Custer County Road 119, also known as Colfax Lane, and head south for 6 miles to a T intersection, then turn left. After a short jog, the road makes a hard right and reaches a USFS campground located at the Grape Creek Trailhead.

The ranger had told me that because of the lack of clearance of my vehicle, I would have to park there. However, it was past mid-day, and I wasn’t keen on the additional 5 miles (RT) of hiking (1500 feet elevation gain), so I pressed on to the end of the road. The roughest section was right before the end of the road. Despite some steep terrain and rock ribs, my rented Ford Edge (ground clearance 8 inches) had no difficulties. Even though the parked vehicles were serious off-roaders, I noticed that a Subaru Forester had made it.

The Music Pass Trailhead, on USFS land, lacked trail signs and had several trails going in different directions. Since my destination was west, I started hiking that way, and quickly found a proper trailhead with a map and register. After starting in the forest, the trail enters Great Sand Dunes National Preserve at Music Pass, a mile from the trailhead. There are great views as the trail begins its descent to upper Sand Creek Valley. After you enter the NPS land, you’ll find adequate trail signs at all the intersections. 1.5 miles later (0.3 mile beyond the junction with lower Sand Creek trail), it splits. Continuing straight, the right branch leads to Upper Sand Creek Lake (1.7 miles from fork). I followed the left branch to Lower Sand Creek Lake (1 mile from fork).

As I got out of the dense forest, the sight of towering Tijeras Peak less than half mile from the lakeshore is quite impressive. However, I photographed mostly intimate scenes on the shore of the lake, enlivened by autumn foliage on the shrubs. In the late afternoon, the lake was entirely shaded by Tijeras Peak. Contrarily to what the ranger had told me, morning light would have been preferable.

However, not to worry, it was a full moon. What I like about full moon nights is that if I wait less than an hour after sunset, the rising moon will illuminate the landscape the way the rising sun does. I can photograph sunset and the equivalent of sunrise within an hour!

As a bonus, this was the night of the total moon eclipse. I had given up on trying to photograph it, as the terrestrial elements in the park do not align well for a composition that includes a rising moon. However, I enjoyed the fact that it provided me with the light of all the phases of the moon within the span of a couple of hours. When the moon was eclipsed, I was able to photograph a bright Milky Way above Lower Sand Creek Lake. As I hiked back to Music Pass, the full moon illuminated brightly the landscape of upper Sand Creek Basin, making it a pleasure to walk in the quiet night.

Part 1 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3

View images of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

In addition to water visits, I spent an hour in the air to photograph Biscayne National Park from an airplane, and another one from a drone. This post offers quick aerial photography tips, illustrated with photographs that reveal perspectives on the park not visible from the ground.

Aerial photography offers two benefits: access to places not easily accessible from the ground, and an unusually high perspective that can help tell a story

For the first reason, I have photographed from the air in most of the Alaskan national parks, as well as places like Canyonlands National Park and Everglades National Park. Biscayne National Park, just a dozen miles from Miami, at first doesn’t seem like a remote place, but you need a boat to visit, and since Sept 2013 there are no concessionaire services.

Flat places lack high viewpoints from which you can see the lay of the land. The flatter a place, the more it benefits from a high perspective. This makes the Florida parks subjects that are particularly suitable for aerial photography.

Chartering a plane isn’t as expensive as it sounds. Most flight schools in the US can get you in the air for about $200/hour in a small plane. They often operate small Cessnas which work well for aerial photography. They fly at a slow speed (for a plane) have high wings, and side windows that open. Helicopters are more suitable for aerial photography, thanks to their slower speed, lower flight altitude, and possibility to fly with the door removed, but they are more expensive.

I prefer the back sit rather than the passenger seat, as it allows me to shoot on both sides rather than only towards the right. The front side window opens, but not the back windows. With no passenger, I can still access the front side window from the back seat. If not shooting towards the sun, using the techniques described in How to Photography Through Windows yields clear images through the back windows, provided that they are reasonably clean and scratch free. Just make sure to have the pilot clean them before take-off, or ask permission to clean them. Those windows are made of plexiglass that scratches easily, so use microfibre or chamois skin cleaning cloth.

The main challenge of aerial photography is to get sharp images. I shoot close to wide open, and set the ISO so that I can maintain a shutter speed of at least 1/500s. Since the subjects are distant, the polarizing filter is essential for reducing haze. Be prepared to shoot a lot and anticipate compositions, since at the speed a plane is traveling, viewpoints change very fast. It is essential that you have enough room on your memory card, and to have a spare battery! Two camera bodies will allow you to switch from wide-angle to telephoto faster so you’re less likely to miss something.

Drone aerial photography is an alternative to airplane and helicopter aerial photography that is gaining in popularity. The advantage is low cost, and the possibility to fly at lower elevations. The main limitation is that you need to get close to your subject on the ground, since you can control the drone only within half a mile, with a mile being an extreme situation.

In addition, drones are banned in National Parks whereas there are no limitations on plane and helicopter flights. However, the ban means no take off, landing, and operation, but not no overflights. I made the photographs of the Convoy Point shore by standing in adjacent Homestead Bayfront Park. I see aircraft and drones as another set of useful tools to keep in your photographic arsenal. Give them a try!