Gothic Road (Gunnison County Road 317), Gothic, CO, 9/26/2011
After arriving in the town of Crested Butte, Colorado on an autumn photography adventure, I dined at one of the town's best restaurants. My waitress suggested that I explore the road north to the town of Gothic; she said there was beautiful scenery and fall color that way. The next day I was pleased to find clusters of golden aspen trees in dramatic mountainous settings graced by the prettiest skies I would enjoy on my trip. While driving northwest on Gothic Road in the East River Valley, I spotted this band of aspens on a ranch at the foot of Avery Peak at left and White Rock Mountain at right. The trees are growing alongside the river at an elevation of 9,375 feet above sea level. Avery Peak has an elevation of 12,653 feet and White Rock Mountain reaches 13,527 feet. Capping the purple ridge in the distance at far left is Mount Bellview (elevation 12,519 feet). These peaks are part of the Elk Mountains, a high, rugged mountain range within the Rocky Mountains of west-central Colorado. This part of the range is inside the Gunnison National Forest. In my earlier days of making landscape portraits I was always compelled to adjust the view of interest so that it would fit the camera's film or sensor. This photograph presents an extreme example of making the camera fit the scene instead! I started by capturing the landscape to the left of the trees, and continued making exposures while turning the camera eastward until the composition was balanced and complete. The final panorama has a width that is five times its height!
