Over the bridge – Exploring the rustic area around the Broadmore

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

I have to admit, I am usually at a total loss for words when it comes to a blog title lately. I mean, who on earth would actually search for that title in a google search?! Could happen I guess….maybe….

Well, thats literally what I was doing though, so lets just go with it….

After a couple of days in the dark cold ballroom programming a few lights and looks for a corporate event I was illuminating, I welcomed the afternoon off we had. I LOVE what do, but I also love to get out and explore, especially after being cooped up behind the lighting console. If you are interested, I shared a few images from the event on a previous post over here!

Just a short ride from the hotel, there were a few dirt roads that were just screaming out to me to explore a bit. As I climbed higher and higher, I noticed a strange chill in the air and from what seemed like out of no where, the late spring Colorado sky opened up and blanketed the area with a fresh coat of show. Cool! Not a big deal to a lot of you out there, but a fun surprise to this Florida boy…and his rental car without snow tires!

After a few zig zags around the mountainside I found this little bridge just off to my left side. As I traversed the mountain switchbacks (makes it sound a little more rustic than it actually was) I found myself scrambling a bit to find a place to pull off to explore the scene by that cool little bridge before the light faded. Not the best composition but as I was not exactly dressed for the occasion, it’s pretty close to what I wanted to capture.

So I have been layering in a few different processed versions of my images recently taking a few pieces from each to create a bit of a different look. Sometimes the hyper realistic details of the HDR layer fight for attention as to where to look. I decided to “paint in” a softer and somewhat subtle and painterly treatment to the trees, branches, and outer frame of this image help tell the story of where I was. Its a technique I am still working on, so I promise to share more like it soon 🙂