Snow-covered mountains in a Colorado winter landscape

The title of this post is a mouthful, but it's a response to the search terms people use when looking for certain photos.  My flickr statistics page links to the search terms people use to find my photos via Google, Bing, Yahoo, and several other search sites.  It can be interesting to see what they are and how I'm found on the 'net.  I combined a few of the more popular (in winter, anyway) ones into the title above.

Chair Mountain was bathed in sun while we were still shaded by clouds when I took the above photograph yesterday.  We were snowshoeing to the west of the mountain, in the North Fork valley, several miles below McClure Pass. 

Colorado snow-covered landscape in both color and black & white

These two shots capture almost everything I like in a winter landscape.  They're vertical (something I prefer, but haven't been doing as much on my snowshoe outings, as the scenery just lent itself to horizontal), have the deep blue sky (no polarizer was used for this shot), and have some interesting elements in the foreground, middle ground, and background.

plant life in winter

The color, texture, and shapes of logs and leaves stand out sharply against the snow. 

Colorado Winter Landscape With Mountains in Black & White

I'm so pleased with how my winter landscapes look in black and white.  While the color photos are nice, the black and white rendering seems to add more drama or impact.

The above view is one of my favorites.  I normally hike out to this point in early summer, when other trails are still muddy or snow-covered.  This is my second time snowshoeing to this overlook so far this winter.  Each time the skies are different, so the photos look different.

I'll meter for the bright clouds or mountain peaks, then compose the photo such that the tops of the mountains are about one-third below the top of the frame.  My neighborhood can be seen in this photo, and seems to be a focal point, so I place that below and to the right of the photo's center.

Aspen trees in black & white

The vertical lines of the trees are accentuated in this photo with the equally vertical shadows and columns of snow clinging to one side of the trees.  Though I liked the color version too, the black & white seems to keep your eye on the shapes and textures better.