The images in this gallery are from a shoot in Colorado and Arizona in October 2011. It was an unusually long an warm summer, which pushed the normal color change back substantially. I drove from Phoenix almost to Albuquerque and then north to Durango, Ouray, and Montrose in pouring rain hoping the storm would clear in next few days, and that the rain wouldn't knock all the leaves off the trees, and that the color would be there and the light would be good. So many variables! Fortunately, the storm cleared out, and I started shooting at Owl Creek pass the next morning just as the sun was coming up, in mid thirty degree temperatures. Two days later, a huge early season snowstorm blew in and dumped huge amounts of snow on the Western Slope. Stopping for lunch at a little cafe in Cortez on the way back to Arizona, I overheard a farmer remark that he couldn't remember so much snow falling in such a short period of time. It made for some interesting driving conditions. Please enjoy these images, and thanks for visiting!