Moving out of Southwestern Colorado's San Juan Mountains to the north, one approaches Grand Mesa, a massive table-top mountain towering 5,000ft above the surrounding valleys and cities. Near the top of this monolith, Aspen perch in groves, clustered near or just below the rim, dotting the otherwise green landscape with bright yellow here in late September 2015.

Near Land's End, Grand Mesa, Colorado.

The Aspen on the northern end of the Mesa are further along than their southern brethren, with the north end getting close to peak, with a few patches of green leaves still lingering, particularly at lower elevations.  The southern fringe of the mesa shows aspen in full golden glory primarily near the very edge of the mesa, while most of those spreading further down the slopes toward the valley still bearing green.

Mesa Lakes, Grand Mesa, Colorado.

While there are patches of Aspen here and there across the gently rolling mesa top, they are often clustered in small groups, and at this point surrounded by little more than brown grasses. Most of the isolated, mesa-top Aspen have turned yellow at this point, with a few having dropped their leaves already.  Aspen on the northern side, particularly near Mesa Lakes, were losing leaves fairly rapidly with each gust of wind, suggesting that the color bounty at that particular site may be shorter-lived than others.

Near Kebler Pass, Colorado.

Further east, the Elk Range rises dramatically, and is also amid a near-peak showing of autumn aspen.  As I drove east on Kebler Pass road, the Aspen gradually grew more and more verdant, peaking in and around Crested Butte.  While patches of green leaves could still be found well west of the pass, the area immediately west of the pass showed excellent color.

Near Ohio Pass, Colorado

The nearby Ohio Pass road showed a somewhat less developed Aspen color, with a much high percentage of leaves yet to turn, but some nice highlights nonetheless.   The area north and northwest of Crested Butte, on the Schofield Pass Road was very much in peak form, with few green leaves to be seen, and even a fair number of trees losing leaves rapidly.

Near Gothic, Colorado

Next, I head to the north side of the Elks, near the town of Aspen, and on to Leadville and the I-70 corridor as I make my way to Denver.

For the fifth time in seven years, I am visiting Colorado in early autumn, drawn to the mountains and to hiking by the irrefutably amazing colors of the Quaking Aspen, as they shed their summer garb under the lessening light.  I have a marked love for Southwestern Colorado's San Juan Mountains, which, while not the highest, nor the most well-known of the state's towering peaks, have always stood out for their beauty and variety.

Near Trout Lake, Colorado

Thus I began my journey out of Cortez, following Route 145 up into the mountains, seeing a decent color show as I ascended, with probably 30% or so of the trees and shrubs along the Dolores River turning. Reaching the top at Lizard Head Pass, the colors began to intensify, and stayed powerful through Trout Lake onwards, beginning to wane as the road dropped down towards Ophir, and further as one descends to Telluride.  These areas are probably a week or so off of their top color show, but curently have a nice contrast of green and yellow aspen leaves amid the confers.

Morning at Trout Lake, Colorado

Following the 4WD route Last Dollar Road out of the Telluride Valley, colors continued to stay mixed, with at least 60% of the foilage still not turned, a situation which only grew greener on the north side of the range, towards the Dallas Divide.

Mount Wilson from Last Dollar Road

Fall Colors on Last Dollar Road above Telluride, Colorado

Later, I headed up to Yankee Boy Basin, which showed similarly mixed, green and yellow aspen leaves, as the road ascended from Ouray, and once in the basin itself, the grasses and shrubs were a lovely variety of shades from green and yellow, through orange, brown, and red.

Gilpin Peak and Yankee Boy Basin, near Ouray, Colorado

However, it was above Ouray on US-550, just below Red Mountain Pass, where the Aspen were truly in top form. The valley walls were coated in a bright yellow sheen, contrasting with the surrounding dark evergreens, and the stark rocky peaks above treeline. Virtually none of the aspen had yet lost their leaves, and only a few had theirs remaining in shades of green.  It was a wonderful show, as in past years, I have always come to this particular area too late, finding it barren, by comparison.

Near Ironton, Colorado

Look ahead for further reports, as I will be heading to Grand Mesa, McClure Pass, and the Aspen area, among others.

If you could save your photos in a format that retained exactly what the camera captured, and allowed you to revisit and reimagine the look of your photos days, if not years later, why wouldn't you? Fortunately, odds are that you can, with a button press or two, by saving in RAW.

Way back in (digitally speaking) 2006, I bought my first camera, a mostly unassuming digital pocket cam, the Fuji E900, which distinguished itself by offering RAW file capture, a rarity on small cameras at the time. Nowadays, nearly all serious digital cameras, and even some phone cameras offer the ability to save in RAW, but many people remain unaware of the feature, the benefits it offers, and how to take advantage of them.

RAW files are a direct copy of the data coming off a digital camera’s sensor, with no, or very little processing applied, resulting in much larger files than typical processed JPEG files. This data would be unrecognizable as a photograph, without additional processing, as much interpolation must be done to create the image we see from most digital camera sensors.  All this extra data is the key to the benefits of RAW, as you can leverage improving image processing technology to reinvent your photos into far higher quality renditions than possible with a camera’s internal processing.

Photo processing software, like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Phase One Capture One, and many others, are the tools for turning your RAW files into beautiful finished photos, and they are improving continually. With each new release, the software makers improve the algorithms that interpret RAW data into photos, giving lower apparent noise/grain, sharper edge resolution, and improved color fidelity. Contrast that to the JPEG processing engine of most digital cameras, which is typically fixed at release, and never changes again.

Yosemite Falls, Morning HighlightPeak runoff season in spring 2008 saw Yosemite Creek running high, filling the upper falls with a weighty torrent that thundered into a drowning mist near the bottom, in the morning light.

Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California, USA.
I’ve presented two photos taken with the E900, a camera which, by modern standards, one would not expect to be a high-performing digital camera, as it had a relatively small sensor, slow lens, “only” 9 megapixels, and no image stabilization. These photos are ones whose composition and subject I have always liked, but until recently, I wasn’t pleased enough with the output quality in order to print and share them as part of my collection. However, revisiting them with the most recent version of Adobe Camera Raw, I was surprised to see just how much the software advances helped control some objectionable noise, and allowed me to increase the resolution while maintaining sharpness.

Afternoon AspenPerfectly golden autumn Aspen catch the afternoon's final rays of sun, as Carson Peak looms large in the shadows to the south.

Inyo National Forest, Mono County, California, USA.
The ability to reinvent your photographs with improved technology, years and years later, is why I argue consistently for the use of RAW files.  While the files are larger, and hence consume more storage space and can slow the responsiveness of some cameras, the potential image quality benefits are such that I would only use JPEG for the most time-sensitive, fast-action photography where the luxury of time for post-processing simply isn’t possible.

As such, I've been on a program recently of revisiting and "remastering" a number of photographs taken over the years, consistently being impressed with just how much better they look, with the application of updated post-processing software, and post-processing skills. If you sock away a a library of RAW photos, they can grow with you, as you improve your technology, and, more importantly, your ability to leverage it. Look forward to more remastered classics for me, and I hope you'll consider, if you already haven't, the potential impact of RAW on improving your photography.