Over the past few days and weeks I’ve been doing some reflection on what’s important to me and to my work. I’ve been considering why I got into photography in the first place as well as why I go hiking in nature.
It’s because there’s so much natural beauty to be had and enjoyed that no matter where you go – you can find something worth photographing.
Since I’ve moved to Colorado – I’ve found more and more I’m instead of just looking up random trails and hitting the road, instead I’m searching “Best Sunrise Hikes Colorado” or “Best Hikes RMNP“.
I’ve lost the point of why I began pursuing photography in the first place.
I’m trying to get back to that and I did just that last night by going somewhere I’ve never been before and just ripping around for sunset. I did not do any scouting beforehand, and just went for a hike and let what I was going to see unfold in front of me.
![](https://blog.chno.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/10/Oct-08-2024-19-01-08-18.7mm-f11-ISO-400-1-80s-1.jpg)
I was pleased with some of the results.
I was just walking around with no tripod and shooting handheld – and doing this as day turns to night can be a recipe for trouble. The images I shot towards sunset proper and blue hour did have trouble. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just enjoy a few of these.
![](https://blog.chno.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/10/Oct-08-2024-19-11-33-19.4mm-f9-ISO-400-1-105s.jpg)
![](https://blog.chno.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/10/Oct-08-2024-19-17-21-28.3mm-f7.1-ISO-400-1-125s.jpg)
There were quite a few deer out and roaming as we were walking along the mesa and plateau. I couldn’t blame them the plains offered a great meal for them and little to no availability for a predator to hide. There were great viewing angles in every direction.
There’s no sugarcoating it – this image isn’t sharp.
![](https://blog.chno.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/10/Oct-08-2024-20-49-53-23mm-f2-ISO-1250-1-200s.jpg)
It was shot handheld and while it may look bright (or at least bright adjacent) in the image, it was in fact very very dark – and I was shooting it wide open (at ƒ/2) to let in as much light as possible. The grass in the foreground is acceptably sharp but it quickly falls off into a mess as we get further and further out – even though I’d focused on the bush in the foreground.
I’m not upset about this though. It was a lovely evening out and the image above has a strong composition and I don’t think it really suffers from not being the most tack-sharp image in the world. I played around with a bit of film grain in post – and I think it helps accentuate the imperfection in the image.
I am excited about what this new stage of refocused photography will bring me. I’ll see you in the next one.