Autumn was short and sweet this year in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a productive season, but while two early storms opened up lots of photographic opportunities for a short window and mixing of seasons, it also abbreviated the fall color season in the Park. As I write this, a third snow storm is bearing down on the Front Range of Colorado and the lakes and peaks will amass more early season snowpack.
I’ve been able to get out to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park a few times since the peak of fall color and the Park has quickly transitioned from Summer to Autumn and now Winter. In fact, I had a difficult time finding any open water in some of the Park’s popular lakes in and around the Bear Lake Trailhead. Sprague Lake was 95% frozen over by the end of last week. I was able to find a small area of open water near the inlet to Sprague Lake.
The wind was howling at 30 mph clips while I tried to photograph this composition at sunrise. I could literally watch the inlet to Sprague lake freeze over and close up with each bone chilling wind gust. Flakes of ice would blow off the open water and the inlet would continue to shrink in size as more ice formed on the surface. There were some nice clouds on the eastern horizon this morning at Sprague. Since there was little to no open water with the exception of a portion of the inlet, I focused my attention on capturing the colors of sunrise reflecting off the icy surface of the lake. It’s likely to be a long time before the lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park’s high country thaw again. Time for me to go find some Winter scenes to photograph.
Very nice colors. I always love the deep blue of the ice. I was out at Lake Helene on Sunday morning (see here and here for a quick preview – not enough time in a day to process images and write about them) and the wind was just howling out there too. Fall always feels too short. Winter is one of my favorites for photography though. Keep up the good work!
Jao,
Great shots from Lake Helene, very dramatic for sure. It was great that you were able to find some open ice and rocks and combine that with the dramatic action in the sky and clouds. I can really feel the wind and cold in your image and your certainly captured the feel of the place on a morning such as those. Lots of people would not tough it out to get in a position to capture such a scene. I’m guessing after our next snow there probably wont be much open ice on the lake for awhile. Thanks for sharing the link, Tom
If the snow falls when the lakes are already frozen over, you tend to get lots of areas that are blown open even after snowstorms. It looks like that might happen this time.
I really enjoy getting out in those places even in windblown conditions. I recently got myself a new backpack that works lightyears better than the Lowe thing that I was using before and so I am mostly in a mode of “wow this feels so light!” instead of “I don’t know if I’ll make it in time”.
Jao,
I agree about getting a lighter backpack. When I used to lug around my 4×5 system I had it in a conventional camera backpack. It worked ok, but it slowed me down. I now use a Kelty Redwing backpack that I retro fitted for my DSLR. It works and feels great and it does not slow me down. I hate the feeling when you think you may not make it to your location in time for sunrise.
Interesting. Most of the dedicated camera packs I tried have no place for the stuff you need to go into the backcountry and so I often did what you do and retrofitted a separate bag in my normal backpacking pack when going on more extensive trips but never found a configuration that works well to get at my gear quickly. The backpack I got is a Tilopa BC from f-stop. It’s a real expedition-style backpack with a separately accessible (through the padding that rests on your back when carrying it) camera unit that is replaceable. It will carry camera and lenses and enough stuff for a few days in the backcountry (i.e. tent/stove/sleeping bag) if needed. It even has waterproof compartments for snow shovel and probes, laptop sleeve etc. etc. I only heard about f-stop recently from Colby Brown. Should have gotten this thing years ago. Just superb.
Jao,
I have heard the F-stop bags are great but I have yet to try one out. Some of the other photo bags, while great for carrying gear, are not all that practical when it comes to comfort and suspension. I use the Kelty bag combined with a Pelican case insert and it’s worked great.