Ryan Bonneau Photo Blog

The monsoons have arrived in the San Juans.  We went for a backpacking trip into Wetterhorn basin and it rained almost the whole time.  It feels great to finally have some rain but a little sun would be nice…

Taking a break between La Junta and Wasatch peak while climbing the seven summits above town yesterday.

The thing I like the most about fly fishing is the wilderness you explore while trying to find that perfect fishing spot.  Casting to rising trout in the setting above is what its all about for me.

I never get tired of watching Elk with their calves.  These little guys were running around as happy as could be yesterday evening in front of Wilson Peak.  They sure do pick beautiful places to graze…

I appreciate a well composed stunning landscape shot but I think my favorite shooting is integrating people into beautiful landscapes.  I think it tells the story of the scene better and gives the image more feeling having the human element involved.  The most successful images for me are the ones where people say “wow, I want to be there.”  More often then not, adding a person in the scene will invoke that response.

Dry summer weather has already resulted in some large wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico.  When the wind blows from the south we can get a haze that makes for some spectacular sunsets.  Here the scene was very simple but I was attracted to the backlighting as the sun was setting on a small colorado farm.  The mountains in the distance are the La Sal’s in Utah.

I was experiencing some issues with my blog but now it seems to be up and running again.  I’m back home now for most of the summer so I should be a bit more diligent with my posting.  Telluride melted off extremely quick this year and most of the high country is snow free already!  The above photo is looking into town at sunset the other night.  The exposure was very tough on this one, shooting directly into the setting sun but I didn’t want to loose the detail in the trees and cliffs.  I settled for a slightly blown highlights that I will have to live with so I could get the most out of the scene.  After shooting the Telluride area for many years I’m trying to deviate from the classic shots that have been done hundreds of times and try to create some new, unique imagery.

I have been traveling around Maui and Molokai for the past week enjoying the tropics while Telluride gets snowed on.  Love it.  The image above is from sunset on the Hana coast.

Elk standing in front of the majestic Wilson Peak yesterday.

Our amazing second half of the season continues with another big dump in Telluride.