For a week I have been car-camped in the Santa Fe National Forest at 10,200′ in elevation fifteen miles outside historic old city of Santa Fe in a wonderful area called Aspen Basin. A great fire in the 1880s gave the aspens, because of their capacity to propagate rather quickly, an opportunity to compete against the dominant firs. At some future time the firs will dominate again, but for now the beauty of the aspens is in evidence and our public lands are welcoming of all who come seek their solace.

A focal length of 210mm, medium telephotoland, gave me the narrowed angle-of-view I wanted with a slice of fir forest in the background shadows, as well as a bit of compression and magnification. Some negative clarity gave a slight impressionistic feel, while an aperture of f/20 provided depth-of-field from the camera-to-subject distance; and a shutter speed of 1/13th second at ISO 400 gave me an overall slightly lighter-than-medium exosure.

It has been a delightful week, but I’m glad for Bonnie to be arriving on Friday and the journey of the final EarthSong Workshop to begin. Our public lands are amazing properties we should all be engaged in preserving and protecting. Please join me.