Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
One for Sunrise Sunday taken a couple of weeks ago. One of my favorite spots on the plains of northeastern Colorado. Even with a cloudless sky, sunrises out there always bring something special and this morning was no different. The sun was climbing over the horizon on the other side of the silhouetted trees, creating a starburst effect through them. Of course there was an orange glow and that beautiful blue above. Below, the reflection of the trees was near perfect on the waters of a canal.
There are three, iconic spots in Grand Teton National Park for taking pictures of the Tetons. I had hoped to photograph sunrises and sunsets at all three during our recent visit, just as I had done before.
However, oppressive wildfire smoke dominated the skies, oftentimes almost entirely preventing seeing the mountains unless you were right up to them. Last Thursday evening a light rain shower served to tamp down the smoke so I hoped Friday morning would give me at least one chance – and it did.
It was a tough call as to which of the three spots to go to (the other two being Mormon Row and Oxbow Bend). I opted for Schwabacher Landing because it is the closest of the three to those majestic peaks, thus helping to mitigate the effects of the lingering smoke.
Plus, there is something about early morning at this spot that I just love. Not many folks go there early and it is a nice walk along the banks of the pond with lots of spots to just soak in the view and take pictures.
A quick snap I took this weekend at McIntosh Lake in Longmont, Colorado. The sun was rising to my back and while it was gorgeous, in the opposite direction was an equally pretty scene. To the left is the 14,259 foot tall Longs Peak, covered in its first healthy shot of snow of the season. to the right are some small lenticular clouds. These ‘spaceships’ are common in the colder months and pretty darned cool. Underneath, reflections of both are seen on the lake’s surface. Both were illuminated by the golden sunrise.
I’ve driven by the turnoff to Sprague Lake, Colorado many times but never stopped to check it out until this past weekend. Saturday afternoon I hiked around it and was I was soon falling in love with it.
I returned at sunrise yesterday with the goal of capturing a series of images in my mind and all in all I pretty much succeeded.
With the sun to my back, I captured the pink / orange glow of the morning light on the 12,720 foot high Hallett Peak and its reflection on the mirror-like waters of the lake. Accenting the image are spots of golden fall foliage on the mountainsides and cotton candy colored clouds above.
A gorgeous scene at a location that I am sure to return to in the future.
It took me three sunrises to capture this image last week as smoke from wildfires in Washington and British Columbia was creating a great deal of haze in the sky on the first two.
On the last morning there still was some smoke lingering which you can see but at least it eased enough to get some pretty decent shots. The calm waters of Oxbow Bend allowed the freshly sunlit Tetons to be reflected in the water.
Scroll down for more scenic photos from Grand Teton National Park.
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