M-Photo | Field Notes

In order to avoid people during this pandemic and get our photo geek we went on a mid-week road trip to the Gunnison area. I have been wanting to go out there for a while now but for some reason I thought it was far away, like Durango far. Gunnison is only 6 hours from Denver.  We took the non-interstate highways, which is always a nicer ride.  The last road trip, to Vernal, Utah, we stayed at a hotel with a kitchen so we could cook our meals.  Not a lot of options in Montrose or Gunnison.  We stayed at our first AirBnB.  With all the travel we do you would think we would have done this before.  We found a cabin on a horse farm just outside of Montrose.  So cool!! Erich bought an RTIC cooler...much bigger than the Yeti and cheaper! It was filled to the brim with breakfast, lunch and dinners.  No grocery shopping on this trip. The truck was full, we brought a ton of stuff.  Both coolers, all our camera gear, lawn chairs (which we used at the Crystal Mill), 5 gallons of water, luggage a…

I have a camera bag problem...I just can't find the right bag.  I did manage to get rid of 11 backpacks earlier this year - I kept five of them.  The last road trip to Dinosaur I packed two bags for the girls (Fuji and Oly), that was a good idea at the time but the back seat of the truck was full. Two Tripods, four camera bags (Erich had two as well), rain coats, 30 degree jackets, hats, gloves, face masks and more hats.  So, we drove out to the Boulder Mike's Camera and picked up the 13L Think Tank Unban Backpack.  It is a tight fit but I managed to squeeze all in all my gear.  It is a heavy bag!  Good thing I only plan on using it in the car!
Camera: iPhone

Our journey started in Rifle, Colorado to visit the falls and try out the Lee filters.  I brought all my gear...and had to use two backpacks.  I packed the Fuji in the big Lowepro bag I used in Egypt.  Boy that trip was almost 10 years ago!  I used a smaller bag for the Olympus and set it up as my 'night bag' for star photography.

Camera: FujiFilm XT3




We stayed in Vernal, Utah in a Marriott extended stay.  We wanted to have a kitchenette to prepare our breakfasts and make lunches for the cooler.  Worked out well.  Many of the restaurants were open for take out and we got Mexican food to go.  We went to the local Smith's grocery store to pick up supplies.  Absolutely no-one in the store with the exception of the workers and ourselves were wearing masks.  In Colorado everyone wears masks, it is kind of mandatory.

The plan was to hit Stienaker State Park for some star photography. It is on the Dark Skies register and is situated in such a way that the lights from Vernal are…