Looking at sunrises

Dawn, Yellowstone Lake and the Absaroka Range

One thing I often hear at art shows is comments about the light in some of my images and how I get some of the colors I have in the prints. I'm always reminded of something Jim Brandenburg, one of the great nature photographer's said - "it's the light, it's the light, it's the light."

To get the right light for photographs, it usually means getting up at God-awful hours or staying out after everyone else has packed up for the evening. Sunrises are a particular challenge - the light changes so fast in the morning, one needs to be ready for a quickly changing sky.

This image is an example. It's sunrise over Lake Yellowstone and the Absaroka Range. I was actually on my way to the Midway Geyser Basin (near Old Faithful) to shoot there when I saw this light developing. It lasted, at most, five minutes. Anyone going past this vantage point a few mintues later probably wouldn't have looked twice.