After a day shift on Sunday, I headed down to the Rio Grande for some photos of the cottonwood trees. They were just about at peak color, with some brilliant yellows found on many of them. I meandered along the Paseo del Bosque trail and a bit to the west of that bosque channel to meet up with the river itself. All of the following images were taken within the last hour of sunlight, the “golden hour”, but because the river valley sits at a lower elevation some harsh shadows are quickly cast from the higher terrain farther west. This poses some interesting challenges when exposing photographs due to the very high range of lighting from the blinding low sun and the dark shadows. I tried to get creative, and came away the following shots.

Paseo del Bosque trail in Albuquerque

Low sun in the Bosque near the Rio Grande

Fall Canopy

Brilliant Yellow and Orange Among Cottonwoods

Back-lit Shelter in the Bosque

Dead in Front, Alive in Back

Fallen Cottonwood

Yellow Sun, Yellow Foliage

Brilliant on the River