Reflection Lake at Sunrise, Spring Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington “A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” ~Henry David Thoreau I was struggling to come up with a name for this photo and hoped I could find inspiration from someone better with words than I am. Of course I came across this quote from Thoreau, and there in the middle was the title: Earth’s Eye. That’s exactly how Willie and I felt as we enjoyed sunrise from Reflection Lake on this particular morning. It was cold but it was amazing: a perfect reflection on the lake, Mt. Rainier standing above us, with beautiful patches of wildflowers in front of us. We had briefly stopped at this spot the previous morning only to find the entire scene covered in thick fog. We didn’t have a clue where Mt. Rainier would even be (we thought it was further to the left). To come the next morning and see something completely different was inspiring, and breathtaking. By the time we left we were surrounded by tens of photographers. Luckily we arrived first and could scope out the 2 largest patches of flowers along the lake. The flowers were still blooming (or dying), so there wasn’t much to choose from. We watched the fog form on the lake, then disappear completely. Hopefully you enjoy the beauty of this scene as much as we did, even without an epic sunrise sky going with it. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 16mm, f/16, 0.4 sec, ISO 100
Glowing Morning Light on The Narrows Zion National Park, UT Zion National Park might be my favorite of all the National Park’s I’ve been to. There’s something about the uniqueness of the hiking that just captivates me. From Walters Wiggles up Angels Landing to hiking in the rivers of The Narrows and The Subway, there’s always something amazing. And those red rock walls! Despite the fact that Willie and I had been to Zion a number of times, we had never brought Sarah or Sammi. We decided to correct that and do a part fun, part photography trip. On our first morning we woke up early, rented gear for the ladies, and hopped into the Virgin River and up The Narrows. Hundreds (thousands?) of photographers have photographed this scene before us but it was one we had previously scouted (and found the location) and wanted to add to the list. We pretty much sprinted here and, of course, another photographer beat us there! Luckily for us it was taking him a while to setup his large format camera and he had no problems with us hopping in front and getting our photos in. Thanks buddy! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 24mm, f/11, 0.5 sec, ISO 250
Blue Hour over Silver Lake Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah Working for a photography company has its advantages and when the entire company ends up spending a week in Park City, Utah, I knew I’d get out at least one night to do some photography. Fortunately a few of my co-workers lived in the area and wanted to take several of us to a few lakes to photography the Milky Way. Ryan, Nick, Dan, Mike, and I drove over to Silver Lake and I came upon this spot on the lake that I knew I would spend the rest of my night at. The clouds looked perfect for a beautiful sunset and I was eager for the sun to dip a bit lower and light up the clouds. In typical mountain photography fashion, the clouds disappeared right before sunset and the sky fizzled to a dull grey. Fortunately, the Salt Lake City light pollution lit up the clouds with a new orange glow during blue hour! Once the clouds disappeared I had high hopes for capturing a stunning Milky Way in the reflection of the lake. Of course Mama Nature felt like being mischievous and just as the sky got dark enough to see the Milky Way, she blew in a new patch of clouds to cover the sky. If you visit my blog I’ve posted another photo of the Milky Way peaking out from the clouds. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-3245mm f/2.8: 17mm, f/2.8, 10 sec, ISO 1000
