Golden Aspen

I shot this image last week while the aspen tree just south of the 60" dome was still drapped in it's golden coat. The next day many leaves had fallen and a week later the tree is now bare. However that day the leaves were an amazing gold set against the sky which was extremely clear and a deep azure blue.
I've always been struck by the black skies in images made by Ansel Adams, a relatively easy thing to do with black and white film and a red filter over the lens. To get a similar result in color, I added a polarizing filter to my lens and made the sky as dark as I could so it the contrast between it, the white dome and the gold leaves would be at its maximum. This image does give some expression to the feeling of being on the mountain top on a crisp autumn day, the smell of the leaves and the vibrant colors all around.
Canon 20D - 1/20th, 25mm @ f/ 27, ISO 100