#azimuth 255

[thorsenmark]

While the Icy Mountains Are Far From Me, I Think of Them Often (Banff National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at Morant’s Curve and the overlook there to the Bow River and mountain peaks and ridges off in the distance. The view is looking to the west. This location is along the Bow Valley Parkway in Banff National Park. With this image, I decided to pull back on the focal length and have a wider angle view. By angling my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward, I felt I was able to create more of a sweeping view across the river and forest leading up to the mountains. That angling of the camera also brought the mountains higher into the image and helped create more of a sense of grandeur with those ridges and peaks.

[thorsenmark]

No Bucket List Needed; Only Being Outside (Petrified Forest National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While standing at a parking area pullout and overlook for the Jasper Forest and looking to the west across badlands and eroded formations in this part of Petrified Forest National Park. One can see the scattered fragments of petrified wood all over this landscape between the overlook and more distant badlands formations. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 4 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

I Lifted My Eyes to Took in a Beauty of Woods and Forest (Mammoth Cave National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view looking to the west just outside the main, historic entrance to Mammoth Cave in this portion of the national park. My thinking was somewhat simple when it came to composing this image: angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly upward and capture as much of the tall trees around me as I could. While it would've been nice to have included some of the walkway to my front, I felt the trees above and around me were what truly captured the feeling that I had at that moment. After doing some initial work in Capture NX2 for saturation, brightness, and contrast, I used some CEP filters (Foliage, Pro Contrast, and Polarization) which seemed to best bring out this look even with the overcast skies and off and on drizzle with fog for the final image.

[thorsenmark]

Resurrection Wall and the Fingers While Hiking the High Peaks Trail I(Pinnacles National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the west while taking in views across eroded volcanic formations along the hillside I was hiking. This was while walking the High Peaks Trail in Pinnacles National Park. The formation in the image center is of Resurrection Wall and The Fingers.

[thorsenmark]

While the Icy Mountains Are Far From Me, I Think of Them Often (Banff National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at Morant’s Curve and the overlook there to the Bow River and mountain peaks and ridges off in the distance. The view is looking to the west. This location is along the Bow Valley Parkway in Banff National Park. With this image, I decided to pull back on the focal length and have a wider angle view. By angling my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward, I felt I was able to create more of a sweeping view across the river and forest leading up to the mountains. That angling of the camera also brought the mountains higher into the image and helped create more of a sense of grandeur with those ridges and peaks.

[thorsenmark]

My Spirit Goes Where the Mountains Lead (Banff National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the west while taking in views at Morant’s Curve along the Bow Valley Parkway in Banff National Park. With no train coming for that iconic image captured, I had time to attempt other compositions for the setting. Here I pulled back on the focal length to include more of the ridges and peaks of the Bow Range. By angling my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward, I wanted to create a more sweeping view with the railroad tracks and Bow River flowing by.

[thorsenmark]

On the Road Again! (Blue Ridge Parkway) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a view looking to the west-southwest and down the road. This is at the Terrapin Mountain Overlook. In composing this image, I chose to capture a look with the center stripes as a leading line into the image and the truck driving with a forest of trees and mountain all around.

[thorsenmark]

Bear Mountain, Mount Cleveland, and Kaina Mountain (Glacier National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: At a roadside pullout along Montana Highway 17 with a view looking to the west to ridges and peaks of the Northern Lewis Range with Bear Mountain, Mount Cleveland, and Kaina Mountain (as identified using the PeakVisor app on my iPhone). This is in Glacier National Park not far from the US-Canadian border.