Sunrise Cascade Mountain

Yesterday, October 16 I arose early for a return to Two Jack Lake to capture the sunrise on Cascade Mountain. I picked up my photo companion, Stewart Hamilton around 6:45 am and forty-five minutes later we were on site awaiting the sunrise.

I took this first photograph, rather a series of nine photographs which I later “stitched” together in Photoshop to create this picture, fittingly termed “First Light on Cascade”. As you can see, conditions were ideal. The lake’s surface was like a mirror, resulting in this near perfect reflection. It was a little chilly, but comfortable and it produced a light mist above the water’s surface, visible on the left side.

For today’s second picture, I’ve used part of the greater scene used in the panorama. It’s the area on the far right, cropped a little bit on the top and bottom. This image was taken with a telephoto lens and shows more detail than the panorama.

Once I had completed work on the panorama, I began searching for other interesting scenery. This was the view to my left from the position where I photographed the panorama. I like the lines in this composition, vertical, horizontal and curved.

From across the lake, I could see the mist on the water, but given the distance it wasn’t showing up well on the first image. For this picture, I used a telephoto lens to get a closer view. It worked pretty well.

A palette of yellow, orange and green hues, reflected on the water’s surface caught my attention for this last photograph just before we completed our shooting and headed for home.

By the time we left, it had warmed considerably and we enjoyed a very pleasant, twenty minute walk back to where I had parked the car. The morning light on the autumn colours as we walked along a canal was striking. It’s surprising we got past it without stopping to take more pictures! It was great just to be there!