The forecast yesterday morning looked promising with recent snowfall, a nearly full moon and 25% cloud cover so I set the alarm a few hours into the future to 3AM and drove out to Tipsoo Lakes just west of Chinook Pass (which usually closes in November) to capture the mountain under moonlight before dawn and at sunrise before heading into work.

I couldn't have asked for better conditions. Here are some of my favorites.

Beautiful scenic shots.

Talk about "the right conditions..." Holy cow! These are awesome!

Number 1 is my favorite but the atmospherics in the second shot are unbelievable! (In a good way.) You have moon light, the actual moon, stars, dawn, apline glow, and CLOUDS! I'm feeling a little jealous looking at these shots. Great works. Love em!

Tim

Beautiful photos. The light and composition are excellent. I love the way, the water leads you right to the mountain.

Super!
cheers Andrew

Great call on the timing of this set - great combination of atmospherics in these images.

Thanks for sharing a great set of scenes.

Alan

Hey Ron,

Super shots here! What a beautiful time you had. My favorite is #1, I really like it. I think #3 could be really cool, but I think you need to blend in a properly exposed moon into the shot. Was the moon with detail visible to your naked eye?

Jim

Ron, always look forward to your posts. That 3AM part sounds brutal to me, looks cold as all get out. Wonderful set, like them all - as seems to be the case with your posts. Rick

Wow, it was worth the drive. Extremely nice.

I really like the prismatic sky in #2. Great work!

How much this has changed since I was there in late August - we had wildflowers everywhere.
These are beautiful images, all three of them. Well done and well worth the early start.
Ute

Beautiful set indeed, Ron. Love the moonshine on the ice/water in the 2nd.

Barry

Tim Hallam wrote:
Talk about "the right conditions..." Holy cow! These are awesome!

Number 1 is my favorite but the atmospherics in the second shot are unbelievable! (In a good way.) You have moon light, the actual moon, stars, dawn, apline glow, and CLOUDS! I'm feeling a little jealous looking at these shots. Great works. Love em!

Tim

Thanks Tim! Everything came together for me, I was really lucky. And there was no one else there. I wonder how often nature puts on a show like this and no one is around to see it.

Dpic_arctic wrote:
Beautiful photos. The light and composition are excellent. I love the way, the water leads you right to the mountain.

Thanks! There weren't a lot of compositions available to get the reflection since only that small part of the lake was ice free. Sometimes not having to choose makes it easier

alichty wrote:


Great call on the timing of this set - great combination of atmospherics in these images.

Thanks for sharing a great set of scenes.

Alan


Thanks Alan, I was pretty excited when I saw the clouds and moon and was hoping I would be able to capture that feeling on camera.

JimFox wrote:
Hey Ron,

Super shots here! What a beautiful time you had. My favorite is #1, I really like it. I think #3 could be really cool, but I think you need to blend in a properly exposed moon into the shot. Was the moon with detail visible to your naked eye?

Jim

To be honest, I don't remember if the moon had detail or not - I don't think it did. It was still several hours before moon set so the moon was very bright, I would have had to expose like 5 stops less than the overall scene. The light was so great that I was worried about missing it so I didn't even think to try that. Gives me something to think about next time, thanks!

Rick Schump wrote:
Ron, always look forward to your posts. That 3AM part sounds brutal to me, looks cold as all get out. Wonderful set, like them all - as seems to be the case with your posts. Rick

Thanks Rick! The 3AM part isn't too bad, and I actually enjoy a nice long drive at night with no traffic. It wasn't terribly cold (probably 28-32), my toes were frozen by the end of it and my hands were slightly numb, but I didn't realize it until after I got back to my car.

ScaryFox wrote:
How much this has changed since I was there in late August - we had wildflowers everywhere.
These are beautiful images, all three of them. Well done and well worth the early start.
Ute

Thanks Ute - and yes, it's a much different scene now than in August, but no less beautiful, just a little colder

A glorious location to be sure. Your efforts are well rewarded with these superb shots

#1 is just a stunner Ron - what a shot!
The others are rather tasty too by the way.
David