There’s nothing quite so breathtaking and beautiful as the Rocky Mountains, except the Rocky Mountains when the Fall colors are changing. And HDSereneScapes® “Fall Colors Colorado” film takes you on a journey to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains during this glorious time of year.
With the magnificent contrasts provided by lush Aspen forests, the grandeur of the peaks and vast sweeping meadows, the Rockies provide a special kind of serenity. This film was shot in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, White River National Forest, Uncompahgre National Forest and around the communities of Aspen, Ridgway, Telluride and on Last Dollar Road.
Having photographed the Rockies, and even purchased land in Southwestern Colorado, it was a no brainer to shoot a “Natural 3D Motion” HDSereneScapes® film there when the colors of the trees burst with brilliant yellow and orange radiance during the end of September and early October.
I paid attention to the projected changing of the color forecasts online, and reached out to forest service personnel to see if the color change was on schedule. In past years I had no problem scheduling shoots to coincide with the projected changing colors of the fall season. And now, for the first time, I was getting feedback that there was some doubt as to the timing the colors would turn, meaning the normal time for color change was no longer normal.
As many factors come into play to cause leaves to turn, rainfall during the summer, first winter frost etc., no one was committing to the usual dates of the third week of September when the change would normally happen. This time, global warming was pushing back the schedule. The question was, by how long.
My wife and I packed up and drove out from Southern California, through Nevada and Utah to Colorado to see for ourselves. We were thinking we might have to wait a few extra days for the first frost to hit, but it would turn out to be much longer than that. So much so that we ended up basically doing a scouting trip for three days, and then we parked our vehicle at the Denver Airport to fly home for more than a week to wait for the changing of the colors.
I was starting to get anxious that we’d miss the late freeze and that colors would not last long, so we flew back to Colorado with fingers crossed. The color change was now nearly three weeks late, and we could see massive areas of mountainsides covered with dying evergreens because of the invasive bark beetles who were feasting on the weakened and dried forests. The next year, Colorado would be devastated by overwhelming forest fires all across the state.
Upon returning to Denver International, we hit the road to the highest elevations just as the colors were starting to turn. We spent days traveling from the northern, colder part of the Rockies down through Aspen and then ending above Telluride, capturing the glory of the state’s changing vistas. It was a wonderful trip, and frankly a relief to see the colors peaking for the film.
I knew we had a beautiful film to share with everyone, but we were truly aware of the effects of climate change incrementally changing the world around us. My hope is that when you enjoy this film, you also appreciate the investment we all need to make to lower our human carbon footprint as quickly as possible to keep these places and experiences alive for everyone.
I honestly feel that our failure to take seriously this changing global reality of a warming planet will have even more significant consequences than just delayed color change. We are seeing it every day, it is real, and it is happening now.
Man’s significant actions in creating this problem can only be countered by matching actions to stop and reverse this trend.
What will you do to reverse this climate warming juggernaught? Drive an electric car? Plant more trees? Install solar panels? Elect a government that takes Climate Change seriously and isn’t beholden to the carbon extraction industries?
The more carbon we burn, the more products we buy that require transport that burns carbon fuels. The more we avoid what is happening, the harder it will be to recover and the more likely the consequences will be worse for all life to survive on this amazing planet.
In the end, the planet will survive. The question is, will we?
No one is going to save us from our past actions. And only we can save life on this planet of ours. There is no alternative Earth to escape to. This is our only home.
It is time to act.
The choice is ours.
