Snowy Range Sunrise

After being up half the night photographing the Milky Way I had crawled into the tent about 1:30 in the morning.  By 4am I was back up and headed back out for sunrise.  The stars were already fading and a few clouds were already picking up very early light.

I went back to the cascade that spills out of Lake Marie and set up a few images there. However the best clouds were not in that composition.  So I walked the edge of the lake to find a way to put more of the distant clouds into the image.  There were clouds but basically none above me.  All were on the edge of the sky.  That had worked out very well for the Milky Way but it was now making me scramble to find the best compositions.

I suppose I should mention that it was July and I was bundled up with a fleece top as well as my down jacket, hat and gloves.  It was 37 degrees.  Quite the change from July in Texas.

After making a few images along the edge of the lake I went back and tried to work the cascade into the image.  The angle was not perfect though so I kept looking.

I also walked down the creek some to photograph more distant clouds to the south.

The morning light moved slow.  I had plenty of time to work the area.  It was actually going slow enough I considered getting back in the vehicle and moving to a different spot but thought it was best to stay here until it was full on morning and just work this location.

Finally I ended up back by the cascade at Lake Marie and put the little kit lens on the NEX6 to work and zoomed in some to compress the scene and take out the blank sky.

The morning was finally arrived in full and I went in search of a few more images up in the mountains.  I grabbed a few snacks for a quick breakfast and was off in search of something else to see.