Stillness of Night by northwestcapture

Landscape photography is all about catching the right conditions in pretty places and that’s exactly what Vinny and I were able to do repeatedly last summer. Sorry that I don’t have much to show for it, but the clouds and light really were some of the best I’ve seen. Over the years I have grown accustomed to expecting nothing other than plain blue skies during the Northwest’s summer months. Unfortunately this is the only time during which much of the Cascade mountains are accessible, unless you are one of those brave soles undeterred by avalanche danger. Although blue skies are what’s to be expected, blue skies are not what we got. At least not until this photo was taken. For the entire four days, we were treated to some amazing conditions. On the final night of our extended weekend trip, we elected to check out a place that was brand new to both of us. We spent more time than either of us would have preferred sweating profusely while hiking through unusually hot weather summer weather. We made it to the lake in the late afternoon and set up our camp. With little time to rest, we began scouting the area right away. I did a bunch of unnecessary climbing over boulders and up hills just to find that elusive perfect composition. However, in the end, all I did was wear myself out further. By sunset, Vinny and I found each other standing nearly shoulder to shoulder on the lake shore back near our camp. In the minutes before sunset, the clouds hovered perfectly on the flanks of Mt. Shuksan’s mammoth face. Vinny got a good shot and I didn’t. Even though sunset was good, we waited around for darkness to set in before retiring to our tents for the final night. Every so often, a gust of wind would sweep through the basin, causing ripples on the lake and all the floating ice would quickly drift across the scene to our right. This made it almost impossible to set up a composition and wait since every five minutes I would have to pick up my tripod and move to a position where I could frame the mountain peak reflection with the floating ice. Between occasional gusts, the air would become incredibly still and a low-lying layer of mist would form over the lake. It was during one of these instances that I captured this image. I hope you like it! via 500px http://ift.tt/1qdYI57