Lumberjack

It's not everyday that you're worried that logs will get picked up by the tide and roll over you. I started this shoot by being a debris mover. What's a debris mover? It's when a person moves stuff around. In this case, I was attempting to get the sand back to a blank canvas for the coming reflections. Some of these logs were scary enough to kill me, but light enough for me to carry further up the beach in what I deemed to be a safe position. "Safe" was just an educated guess based on the location of all the other large logs. I also crossed my fingers. As sunset approached, I really started to tidy up.

Mousetrapped

The morning of the day I took this shot was eventful, to say the least. I let myself sleep in and sacrificed shooting sunrise. It was a welcome treat to a landscape photographer used to waking up in the wee hours of the day. I figured I'd have a low key morning and shoot sunset later. Not to be. After getting up, I decided to eat breakfast like a normal human being. I opened up my trunk and saw a little black shadow move about. I pulled some of my bags out. Nothing. So I carry on with my routine. I write it off as my mind playing tricks on me to start the day. I grab my bagels and sit down only to find a hole in the bottom of the bag. So I grab more food from the trunk. Another hole. This time in the popcorn bag. Terror. Panic. This isn't going to be a relaxing morning.

Spineless

One of the backcountry sites we reserved had a solar composting toilet. No idea how the solar part worked and I didn’t bother to investigate. I still preferred the nearby sandbox. Upon coming back late after sunset, we found a squatter at our site. I didn’t realize at first. As I headed towards my tent, my traveling partner and fellow photographer, Jacob Hanson, matter of fact told me that it wasn’t my tent. It was dark, but I know where I parked my tent by golly. And I figured he was just pulling my chain. But low and behold it wasn’t my tent. I’m sure I frightened the mystery man as I was confidently walking towards him and grabbed his zipper. Close call. That night we quietly ate some soup and called it a night.

Midnight Rider

I like to put a couple of my favorite things together: PB&Bananas. Coffee and chia seeds. On this occasion I went with mountain biking and photography. As I was packing the car, I decided to throw my bike up top. Spur of the moment decision. Turned out to be a good choice, if not out of necessity. I have a little coupe that simply won’t make it down some of these roads, but somehow, someway I’ve always managed.

Vandalism

Not a whole lot of people go where I go or stay out as late. I love wilderness areas or national forests where you can head anywhere you want. I quickly get myself off the beaten path to explore. I didn’t see anyone all day long. On the hike back I went ahead and broke a cardinal rule in the wild: Don’t play loud music. I turned it up. I was getting all into it. Singing along like I should be considering a new career. Clapping my hands. Then all of a sudden my hands were tied. Literally. The elastic ends of my winter gloves twisted together during my performance. I was handcuffed. Guilty as charged.

Rock Art

After spending 4 days and 3 nights here, I got to know the place. It became familiar. I had some routines. I found a spectacular rock in the sun that doubled as my dinner table as well as my lounge chair. There was some paint on it. That’s cool, someone was painting. Had a couple of bird bombs too. To make up for it, there was this other little rock someone put there that was square and perfect to put under your head. Like a pillow. I arranged it so it covered the wet paint. I took a nap. After who knows how long, I woke and started stretching and moving my arms about. Then a bird flew off and scared me. And I got pooped on. Crap.

Duned from the Start

We went in without much of a plan. All we really knew was that we wouldn’t be taking the normal jaunt from the backside of the visitor center. We decided to grab a backcountry permit to spend a couple of nights in the dunefield and go from there. At some point while filling out the paperwork, the ranger warned us that April is their windiest month. Perfect, I thought. Just what I was looking for. We were also told that the sand gets twice as hot as the air temperature. It was going to be in the 50s and 60s and I’m good at math so I didn’t think that would be all that hot. We got deep into the dunes and set up camp. Shot sunset and sunrise the next day. Just how Colorado likes it, we were treated to blue skies and a warm sun in the late morning. Make no bones about it: this was sweet. Excited, we packed up and got deeper into the dunes for the second day of our adventure.

Misadventures

Tim Canfield. Photography.

SMALL CHANGE ADDS UP