The story of this autumn was the story of weather.  Though the fall colors were arguably less "intense" than in normal years - due to early cold snaps and heavy snows - the color that did present itself was no less beautiful.  Vibrant reds, oranges and golds that normally appear in September and October were largely replaced by muted colors of a more earthy nature - auburns and rusts - and accented frequently by the early touch of snow and frost. The skies seemed to be either totally clear or totally overcast during most of my time in the field, and so much of my work this season focused on more intimate scenes, looking more closely at the medley of colors running across hillsides of sage, aspen and willow.  As is usually the case in fall in Colorado, it was a pleasure to run into and spend time shooting with friends and fellow photographers as we crossed paths on our respective adventures.  What could have been a very cold night alone in a parking lot near Maroon Bells, turned into a small gathering of friends standing out in a steady snow wondering what remarkable scene might present itself the next morning.  Our wondering turned into wonder the next morning.... Below are some of my favorite images from Great Sand Dunes NPP, Aspen, Kebler, Dallas Divide, Telluride, Owl Creek Pass and more.  Comments are always welcome - feel free to e-mail me at rick@rickdunn.net. *Note:  Even at the relatively large size at which many of these .jpg images are displayed, compressing the images to make for reasonably sized files has significantly reduced the detail quality.  This is especially true of the images of forested hillsides.