This sunrise photograph of Mount Sopris is one of my favorites. A large framed version is still displayed in my office. But it is probably the last landscape photograph I will ever take thanks to the overcrowding of so many beautiful places.
Shortly after setting up my tripod and getting my GND filter in position, a spot that typically provided a bit of convenient serenity during an annual fall colors trip throughout Colorado was suddenly filled with 50+ people. They all came out of two large buses, loudly set up their cameras right next to mine, grabbed a quick photo, and then filed back into the bus for their next destination, which a tour guide announced as Maroon Lake. My primary interest in landscape photography is the serenity of nature that is enjoyed before and after capturing the photograph. Instagram, photography blogs posting the exact coordinates of locations like this, and a few other factors have had a huge impact these past couple of years. A friend recently confirmed this nationwide change when telling me about the hundreds of photographers lined up to capture the Yosemite Firefall phenomenon in an area that I had all to myself just several years earlier.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have experienced and photographed so many epic locations when it was just me, my camera bag, a Clif bar for breakfast or dinner, and a beer to enjoy after sunset. I am also glad that serenity can still be found via a backpacking or bikepacking trip, which I prefer to enjoy with activities like fly fishing around sunset or sunset instead of photography. Thankfully, I do still love bringing a bag full of camera equipment into the forest to capture skiing and biking images, so stay tuned for more of that…