Kebler Pass Road
Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

There are many unpaved roads in the mountains of Colorado that require a Jeep Wrangler to traverse. Kebler Pass Road is not one of them. This relatively wide, well-graded road provides the most direct route between the resort communities of Aspen and Crested Butte. It also provides access to massive fields of wildflowers and several of the largest stands of Aspen in the world.

Lots and Lots of Trees
Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

Two Young Buds
Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

'Tis Good to be a Sheep
Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

Up here, it is good to be a sheep. They appeared to be wandering around at their leisure feeding on an endless supply of lush green plants. There were cows, too, enjoying the good life along other sections of the road.

Field of Gold
Horse Ranch Park, Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

Sometimes the Lord blesses you with great timing. That was certainly the case here. It was early evening and the sun was low in the sky, lighting up this field of wildflowers perfectly. Time to pull out the Lensbaby!

Field of Gold, Zone Plate Edition
Horse Ranch Park, Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

One of the neat things about a Lensbaby is that you can remove the optic (the part of the lens that focuses the light onto your camera’s sensor) and replace it with different optic. After taking a few shots with the standard double glass optic I decided to try a zone plate optic. Wow! The zone plate optic is responsible for the glowing, soft-focus image you see here.

Zone plate lenses don’t use glass to refract and focus light. Instead, they use a series of alternating light and dark rings to diffract and focus it. They’re often used in X-ray machines because X-rays cannot be focused using traditional glass elements. Cool, huh?

My Favorite Pair
Horse Ranch Park, Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

Through a Pinhole Darkly
Horse Ranch Park, Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

For my final shots, I decided to try a pinhole optic. Again, no glass; this time just a tiny hole to let light through to my camera’s sensor. As you can see, the image from a pinhole camera has an almost infinite depth-of-field leaving everything somewhat in focus and nothing perfectly in focus.

The tiny opening in a pinhole lens creates one other problem: the viewfinder is so dark that it is hard, if not impossible, to see exactly what you are photographing. You simply point your camera, press the shutter button, and wait to see the image that pops up on the rear LCD display. Even on the brightest day, shutter speeds are slow enough that a pinhole lens requires the use of a tripod.

Pinhole Family Portrait
Horse Ranch Park, Kebler Pass Road, Colorado - July 2009

previous image set: Independence Pass & Maroon Bells, Colorado
next image set: Crested Butte & Gothic Valley, Colorado