Weekend travelers going to the high country. Ahhh… But if you can’t go, or are stuck at home this weekend, let us travel to the peaks virtually. Here are some fun mountain shots. As always, we think they would look cooler printed really big.

Our first post is a great set of images of the Rocky Mountains. The website isn’t very good, but the images are excellent. Enjoy looking around here.

Pictures of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains

Can’t even speak about mountain photography without looking at the astounding work of Galen Rowell. Some people leave too soon. We miss Galen’s incredible eye.

Born in 1940 in Oakland and raised in Berkeley, California, to a college professor and a concert cellist, Galen was introduced to wilderness before he could walk. He began climbing mountains at the age of ten on Sierra Club outings, and at sixteen made his first roped climbs in Yosemite Valley. Over the next fifteen years he logged more than a hundred first ascents of new routes there and in the High Sierra backcountry.

Ok… once you figure out how to work the damn website, the images are really fine. (I should do a rant sometime on why photographers think they should have some techie-looking site… sheesh). Anthony Nielson’s work is way better than his site.

And some food for thought from Travel Quest.

Mountains are by nature photogenic, but it is not always easy to capture their scenic grandeur in a photograph. The first requirement is to use decent equipment – simple point-and-shoot cameras, either using film or digital, can yield good results, but for most purposes,a good quality 35 mm camera with a selection of lenses is necessary.

Some good advice here as well.

Words and pictures Colin Prior

‘An image doesn’t start with a camera – it ends there.’ is a useful maxim borrowed from one of the National Geographic Photographer’s Field Guides.

Its simple, concise message serves to remind photographers that it is what lies ‘beyond the lens’ that should command their attention. Nevertheless. For each assignment it is essential to have the right photographic equipment at hand, together with an understanding of its limitations.

We close for now with some outstanding images from Willie Holdman.

“I had visited this meadow several times and each time offered a different reward. This autumn day had a blanket of gray across the sky. As I reached the crest of the meadow the sun had managed to pierce through the clouds and illuminate a ridge of aspens. Just as I had prepared my camera, another ray of light danced across the top of Mt. Timpanogos. A photograph was taken.”