The state Colorado is a pretty amazing place during the fall season. One of the challenges however is that aspen leaves change color and can drop quickly when the wind starts blowing. Last fall I was out in the San Juan mountains looking for fall colors and coming up empty in many locations. Late one afternoon I was driving down the highway and saw this scene on my left. It stood out because the aspen forests all around it were already completely bare. And also, it has snowed the night before, so the mountain peaks in the distance were covered with fresh snow.

I traveled at least another mile before being able to turn my vehicle around safely. When I arrived back at the scene, I could tell that I was about to lose the light on the mountains. I quickly got my gear out and took some photos. Since the aspen forests were bare on both sides of this scene, I used my telephoto lens to isolate the small grove of aspen trees still hanging onto their leaves. Capturing this scene at 224mm also gives the illusion that the mountains were closer than what I saw with my naked eye.