Thinking that the early mountain snow (still visible many days after the storm hit) might have rushed autumn, I thought I had missed the peak colors for this year. For the most part, I did. However, just down from the summit of Guardsman Pass, near Deer Valley in Park City, I pulled over and caught this scene.
On first glance, you might think that the yellows are just bushes. They are not bushes, they are aspen trees (Populus Tremuloides).
The trees in the pictured aspen groves are around 30 feet tall and very densely spaced, especially in the grove across the middle of the image. It’s hard to get a sense of scale in this image. I hoped the foreground trees might help, but I’m not sure they get you there.
The lens flare was left in intentionally. After shooting a bunch of shots with the sun in the frame and heavily filtered, I wasn’t happy with the color or the composition. I like the hint of rays that indicate the sun is going to disappear behind the mountain range in about 20 minutes.
