When I packed for our long hike on my last day in Colorado I was faced with deciding which camera and which lens(es) I should carry. In the end, I decided that I would carry the smaller camera with the wide-angle lens, and leave my 100-400mm lens at the house. After all, I wasn’t likely to see many birds, and, more importantly, I didn’t want to have to carry all that extra weight up the mountain.
Of course, we had barely arrived in the park when Jen spotted a large bull moose out in a meadow next to the road. If I had brought my 400mm lens, this would have been the best shot of a moose I had ever gotten.
On the other hand, since I had a hard time keeping up with the fourth grader climbing at this altitude I was grateful that I didn’t need a 400mm lens to capture shots of the lakes and surrounding mountains.
It would have taken me at least fourteen shots with my 400mm lens to stitch together a panorama like this.
We didn’t end up seeing the beautiful Aspen fall foliage that I had hoped to see, at least not on the hike, but these brilliant red leaves contrast beautifully with these granite rocks.
As much as I hated missing the shot of the moose, I probably made the right choice in which lens to bring along. Not only did I get some nice shots of the scenery, I captured shots of the family that will remind me of this hike for quite a while, long after all the aches and pains have disappeared.