People don’t move mountains. Mountains are considered to be static, motionless, rock-solid, constant. But they do change. Sometimes they rise in elevation. They also crumble under the forces of nature, be it weather, erosion or earthquakes.
People don’t move mountains. But mountains move people.
Every mountain has multiple personalities brought to life by a viewer’s angle, perspective and elevation.
The mountain changes with the time of day, the type of light, the season, the location relative to other geographical features, the direction it faces, the altitude, the geography, the weather.
Mountains don’t just sit there. They are dynamic, slow as it may seem.
Mountains don’t just sit there. They scream!
They create weather, they shed their skin, they harbor wildlife.
They lure the curious, the admirers, the unwary.
They create addictions — some beneficial, others risky.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS: “Backbone of the North American Continent”
What treasures do Colorado’s mountains and forests harbor?
Wind-driven snow and ice crystal patterns on a west-facing rock.
Morning sun reflecting on a thin layer of overnight ice on the creek.
Afternoon light accentuating the colors of rainbow trout shifting direction one foot below the creek’s surface.
Erie, distant echoes of howling coyotes.
Nights marked by such complete stillness and silence that you feel guilty for breathing.
Stars so plentiful and bright that your body surges with intergalactic intrigue.
Cool nights that send bugs and mosquitoes packing for Arkansas.
In the mountain valleys, creeks surge with ferocity in the afternoon and evening, then retreat after midnight as the cooling temperatures slow the melting process. Then they surge again, as the process begins again the next day.
Wildflowers of so many varieties that they turn mountainsides, meadows and creek banks into masterpiece theaters.
Cool, damp moss draping creek banks.
Old-growth forests that create cool, cavernous hollows.
Rock formations that turn imaginative glances into surrealistic movie scenes.
Winds you can see with your ears as they trace a path across a valley and dance through the lodgepole pines and stands of aspen.
Mountain climbs that offer greater dividends as you increase in elevation.
Creeks and rivers reborn or reactivated with spring’s cascading snowmelt create a thundering, never-ending roar.
Afternoon thunderstorms that temper and refresh the heated day, abating the dust and triggering the landscape’s fragrances.
Rainbows dazzle the eyes as a passing storm moves east and the sun re-emerges in the west.
All photos, text and artwork on this Web site are copyright-protected and the exclusive property of Eric Schickler Adventure Photographer.
No downloading, use, reproduction, manipulation, sale and/or distribution permitted without express written consent.
I figured it was time to “protect my products,” concentrate on what I wanted to draw, get selective about who I’d work with, and think about how I could use artwork to my advantage, and to the advantage of those I cared most about. It finally hit me that I had a valuable mineral in my own back yard, so I better stop letting anyone and everyone come over for weekly mining parties.
