Ryan Bonneau Photo Blog

Aspens are one of my favorite subjects to shoot and it seems like there are endless interesting ways and angles to shoot them.  This image is an abstract of a beautiful aspen grove on Wilson mesa.

It has felt like spring to the Telluride locals now for a few weeks, but recently we are having more signs that confirm the early change of season.  The Geese in the image above have been around for a few days now and are filling the air with the sounds of spring.

Rain gave way to snow thursday evening and we woke to 3-5 inches of fresh powder and the mountains looked like winter again.  The image above is Mike Munno getting powder turns down the shoulder of Little Rose on Gold Hill.

A good sunset is much more predictable than a good sunrise in Telluride.  On a cloudy evening if you see a sliver of clear sky on the western horizon you could be in for a great show.  The eastern view is block by the mighty San Juan’s so a good sunrise just sneaks up on you.  The image above is Wilson peak at sunset last night.

There is nothing better then getting a big storm followed by a sunny warm day in the mountains.  It happens only a few times each season and they tend to be the best days for skiing photography.  The temperature crept up near 50 degrees yesterday but the snow was still soft and light making for some perfect powder skiing.

Last night the storm that actually produced some heavy snow for us moved out right at sunset.  This is the San Miguel river running through the valley floor just outside of Telluride.  I tried to get the longest shutter speed that I could manage with the given light (around 20 secs) so I could blur the clouds with there movement a little bit to add some feeling to the scene

The weather cleared right at sunset last night, lighting up the clouds above Ajax peak.

It seems to be the only thing I’m shooting lately but with a low snow year it’s hard to get good winter landscapes when everything looks like spring.  The San Miguel is in the shade most of the day so it’s one of the few areas that actually looks like winter right now.  This was a 30 second exposure after sunset the other night.

For the last week I have been hiking out to this spot on the San Miguel river at sunset hoping for a good show.  Last night I finally got what I had waited for as the clouds lit up for around 2 minutes as the sun popped out on the horizon line.  My plan had been to shoot back towards town but I ended up liking this composition much better.

This past week we saw temps drop well below 0 again and the river choked up with ice.  This photo is on the San Miguel a little ways out of town at dusk yesterday.