1. I’m 19
2. I’m 20
3. I’m divorced
4. I’m twice divorced
5. I was born both a man and a woman
6. Former junkie
7. Gang-member
8. Former cokehead
9. I killed my parents
10. I’m French

It is inevitable to end up in an over-photographed location. But what do you do with that? How do you move through that space, with a keenness that can allow for new, relevant images?

It’s not a new problem, but it is a useful one.

A month or so ago I drove over Trail Ridge Road. with M. The light was like nothing I’d ever seen there before. Insane clarity on one side, a storm growing on the other. The typical haze cutting through the distance.

Rocky Mountain National Park, 2010

Anytime you travel through that park, you can’t ignore the endless folds of earth—that from corner to corner as you wind up and down the road—can quickly turn from otherworldly to eminently sled-able. Living in Denver, it is a conceptual “backyard”, but the surprising tameness that exists within the extremes can sometimes feel like the edge of a suburban development.

The ligature of the road itself, carved into this place, leads to pull-offs and paths through the tundra, but you never do find the tract homes. It does take you through simple and clear opportunities to make rather nice photographs.

Rocky Mountain National Park, 2010

The drive we made wasn’t about making photographs, though, it was about getting out of the city. I didn’t pay the $20 fee with any conceptual framework in mind. I didn’t want to make an ironic statement about preservation. See that kind of light for yourself, though, and what would you do? Try to make some pretty pictures, that’s what.

Rocky Mountain National Park, 2010

Operating only on a half-conscious level—regarding actively trying to make unique National Park images—I ended up finding myself attracted to the simple layers that cut across those prehistoric rises, falls and fissures. The swaths of plain tundra overlapping and softly receding towards those daunting ridges—and the tiny human elements that only recently found their way in to install roads, walkways and informative plaques.

Rocky Mountain National Park, 2010

Rocky Mountain National Park, 2010

These images are a poor representation of this area. Truth be told, any image would be. They are, however, as accurate a description as I could muster for where we were that day.

I should note that the last of these for images I cover at least 3 clichés. Find them all! It is like Highlights Magazine, but instead of innocent fun it is my creative shame we are hunting for!

All images ©2009 Ross Evertson

All images ©2009 Ross Evertson