Sunrise Over Dream Lake

As the weekend rolled around and the temps having recently dropped, I thought it would be a good time to head up to Dream Lake before everything froze over. I called up a friend from college that now lives nearby to see if he wanted to come along and shoot. With a confirmation and all systems go, we set out well before sunrise to RMNP. The wind was a bit gusty, nothing too bad, but when we rounded the final bend to the Lake, that's when we realized what we were getting ourselves into.

With gusts reaching 60+ mph, it was hard to keep the camera steady. A remedy for this was to up the ISO and knock the f-stop down a little. Also, remaining low to the ground and keeping the tripod legs spread to the max helped a lot.

Though the mood was crazy, there really wasn't any good lighting, until there was. And out of all my trips up there, all the hikes, and all the early morning drives to capture an epic scene , it finally came together. Beautiful rays of sun came from the East, seeping through the clouds which gave a vibrant overload of oranges. From the frozen fingers, to the red cheeks, and the last bit of flowing stream, it was all just wicked awesome. And it was really nice to share it with another photographer that enjoyed it as much as I did!

All images are ©copyright Jacob Lynn Routzahn. You may not replicate, use, manipulate, modify, print, or any other form of editing to my work without my permission. All rights reserved.