Alberta Falls Awakened, a photo from Colorado, West

Photographer's Note

Alberta Falls Awakened

Alberta Falls - Glacier Gorge Trail - Rocky Mountain National Park.

The white stuff on the ground is not snow .. it is hail ..

I have posted so many "melted water" images I thought this would be almost avant-gard : ) .. I do like the raw power of the spring snow melt off seen this way

(although I probably will get some slow shutter ones of this fall up eventually ... My attempts at it last summer were too crowded and on the day it was empty it was just too bright).

This is a special place for me. I proposed to my wife (Rachel) here .. on a summer morning .. this was actually taken on our anniversary ...

we both felt being hailed on at the place I proposed was an all to appropriate analogy : )

.. Rachel's a violinist .. she has been in Los Angeles (1500 miles away) 3 days a week since September .. she got back this morning .. so an image of Spring ..

Spring comes late to the higher elevations in the mountains .. These falls are at 9400 feet (2865 meters)

Alberta Falls is one of a number of wondrous places found on a hike from the Glacier Gorge trailhead. If you continue from here up the mountain and then across a ravine you can take one fork into Glacier Gorge and onto Mills Lake and another up the vale to The Loch
. This is one of the true "must see" trail systems in the park and is often crowded.

To reach Alberta Falls take the Bear Lake Road to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. The falls are about 0.8 miles up the trail. They used to be 0.6 miles up the trail but they reworked the Glacier Gorge trailhead and added some distance. It is an easy (in summer anyway) paved trail. Due to the short hike Alberta Falls is often crowded.

Rocky Mountain National Park is built around hiking as the primary activity. A great guide to hiking Rocky Mountain National Park is The Explore Rocky Trail Guide I believe put together originally by wonderful Colorado photographer Jesse Speer.

Ertan, fulvio52, adores, stego, jaywalker, Csilla, pboehringer, branley, claudio74, carper, Silke, ollie59, Buin, evanrizo, snunney, JPlumb, Shoot_Score, gunbud, fserajian has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Ertan (2988) 2007-02-25 16:05

Hello John.
Very very nice landscape.Great colors and POV.
Well done.
Regards
Ertan

batalay (41261) 2007-02-25 16:21

Hello John,

Another fabulous shot, exquisite in composition, perfect in exposure. I rather like the contrast of the pristine whit in the water with the relative darkness of the trees and rocks. But what is most appealing are the highlight colors in the water, on the stones, in the trees. Finally, you given us a a most informative note to support this small masterpiece.

Regards,

Bulent

fulvio52 (8314) 2007-02-25 16:37

Hi John,
in my opinion this is a masterful shot.
Those lovely soft colors are a trademark of yours (the greens are gorgeous) and the POV is exceptional. Framing the falls within those two upfront aspens is THE genial final touch.
Colorado looks so much like Colorado on your pictures, you can almost smell it!
This one goes straight away into my favorites.
Man, I'm sure glad I got to know you!
A big hug,
Fulvio.

adores (46979) 2007-02-25 16:49

Another excellent photo from the mountains John!
This POV is great. I like the darkness and the texture of the rocks and trees.
Really well done!
Regards, Anabela

ptibelo (3380) 2007-02-25 17:15

Tr鋊 belle cascade et tr鋊 impressionnante...belle couleurs des arbres et des rochers.
there is fish..? and what?
JMarie

stego (24132) 2007-02-25 20:55

Hi John,
What a place to propose to the woman of your life! :D
It's stunningly beautiful and you captured masterfully. The pov is very attractive, with the water breaking the image in three parts and those trunks framing it vertically and contrasting with the bg. Very nice colors and sharpness, it's even hard to believe that it was shot with a low end camera.
I also like your winter version, but I like much more this one.
Regards, Jos�.

Csilla (1782) 2007-02-25 22:33

Hi John!
Very nice photo of this natural beauty. I like it!
Regards, Csilla

pboehringer (770) 2007-02-25 23:27

Hi John,
thanks for sharing with us the place of your proposal. It looks to be a very inspiring place with this powerful waterfall. Despite the flat light you achieved a good contrast and strong colors in the foreground.
Regards, Peter

branley (3681) 2007-02-26 5:27

Hi John,

this is obviously a very special place for you and I'm pleased you can share it with us. Mother nature certainly can show her power especially at the beginning of springtime as the snow melts. I like the way the fall is framed by the two trees which show great detail and have good colour too. A great note and a superb capture, simply superb.

Regards

Stephen

claudio74 (7263) 2007-02-26 8:43

HI John
Nice picture of a really beautiful place. great ambiant for this picture, really powerful.
regards
Claude

sothy81 (9646) 2007-02-26 9:31

Hi John. This is an excellent photo. Great postcard look photo. What's a beautiful place! Well done. Sothy

carper (96) 2007-02-26 10:13

this is nature John,
thank you for showing us something of your fantastic piece of nature in the USA. good point of view here, nice atmosphere, and yes I like the good job here, well done.
gr. jaap

jaywalker (16105) 2007-02-26 12:17

Hi John, This is a beautiful capture of this waterfall, your POV is ideal, I like the way you have used the two trees to frame the falls, great focus & very good colours, you can see the power in the water & it looks cold from here, great shot, kind regards Wilson.

Silke (3027) 2007-02-26 17:55

Your textures here are excellent:--> One can almost feel the mist!
I love PoV: using the trees as a frame works very well indeed.
TFS
silke

carod (364) 2007-02-26 18:31

Hello John,

Belle composition.

Je me demande si quelle allure aurait le photo avec un exposition plus longue !!! 蓷 lui aurait donn� un autre charme.

bye !
Caroline !

ollie59 (796) 2007-02-26 18:48

hi john ,great image my freind ,just love the power this view shows ,wonderfull colours too and a great pov .
also very good informative notes
well done
ollie

Buin (42580) 2007-02-27 6:30

Hallo John!
First my congratulations to 3000 point here! Your picture - as usual - is most impressive and shows this wonder of nature very well. One nearly can hear the water ... The little bit misty atmosphere here fits in a good way to the falls. You live in a wonderful region, but I'm sure that you know this ... ;-)
Greetings from springlike Germany!
Frank

MIG13 (0) 2007-02-27 9:25

Hi, John. Another wonderful landscape, well captured by your eyes and lens! A very nice pic, as ever! TFS! Greetings from Rio! Miguel.

evanrizo (462) 2007-02-27 10:01

Hi John.
A very nice capture from a very good point. I think I can hear the noise of the water.The waterfall is very good framed.
Have a nice time.
Evan

snunney (130967) 2007-02-27 11:03

Hello John,
Great picture of this tumbling waterfall. I like the pov that gives the felling of standing in the water and the framing from the trees either side. Good exposure management that makes the water look as if it is really churning. Good tones and clarity.

cdmonson (5304) 2007-02-27 17:48

Hi John:

Lovely image of these falls. I like the colors of the trees and the perspective of the falls. It's too bad the sky was so overcast, but otherwise it's nice.

Clark

JPlumb (3159) 2007-02-27 23:15

Hi John, you aren't just kidding. That falls really did awaken. That would be something to see. Even with all that white your exposure levels were good throughout. With everything wet your colour saturations turned out great.

Thanks, John

Shoot_Score (650) 2007-03-01 5:13

Amazing to see Alberta Falls in Colorado... ;)

Crisp photo John, esp. with the hail on the ground!
I can smell the firtrees! And feel the wetness from the spray, eh! Well expressed. Tfs, Jay

PS Great show that you got this WITHOUT TOURISTS!

danyy (0) 2007-03-01 9:11

Bonjour John,
n'彋ant pas large, on devine toute de m瘱e la puissance des flots ici et le fracas qui doit l'accompagner.
Pas facile � r嶧liser, des lumi鋨es fortes pour le ciel et les 嶰umes, basses pour les sous-bois, le r廥ultat est plus qu'honorable.
Bien � toi.
Daniel.

DarkoG (8) 2007-03-01 10:31

Fantastic place. I'm really found of running water photos. Good work.

gunbud (34066) 2007-03-01 21:35

Hi John,
Another beautiful landscape with the falls tumbling to the rocks below creating a lovely mist to this wonderful photo framed so well by the mountain evergreens. Very Interesting note as well.
Regards, Tom

Photo65Net (43144) 2007-03-03 4:29

Bonjour John,
Nice catch, with superb water texture.
Your POV choice is clever, with nice contrasts.
Regards,
JB.

anesugur (18789) 2007-03-06 17:25

Hi John,
Beautiful place, very nice view, colors and very good POV.
I like your composition.
Thanks and best wishes. Uğur

fserajian (2299) 2007-04-09 16:13

Hi John,

You live a fasinating country, what a nice landscape, very well presented, I agree with Fulvio52 it is a mastershot. TFS

Regards,

Fara

Photo Information

Copyright: John McLaird (jmcl) (14535)
Genre: 地方
Medium: 彩色
Date Taken: 2004-06-18
Categories: 自然
Camera: Vivitar ViviCam 3746
Photo Version：Original Version
Theme(s)：Waterfalls, Glacier Gorge Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-02-25 16:00
Favorites：1 [view]