Chatfield Sunrise: January 2018

Chatfield Reservoir had frozen over on my recent visit to Colorado, but it wasn't covered in snow. I thought that might provide an opportunity for some interesting sunrise scenery, so I once again braved some frigid temperatures and dragged myself out of bed an hour earlier than I do when I'm not on vacation to find out.

Initial returns while walking along the shore were promising.  Cracks on the lake's surface and broken pieces of ice provided some fun textures for the eye to take in.

A branch that had somehow found its way out onto the ice provided a strong focal point while I fussed with composition.  My glasses had fogged up from my breath being funneled up by my balaclava, then the condensation had promptly frozen.  So I was left with no choice but to take them off if I wanted to see anything.  I set them on the ground between the legs of my tripod despite a gnawing dread that I would accidentally step on them.  Spoiler alert: I didn't. :)

When the sun broke the horizon, I got some nice reflection off the ice that I'd been hoping for.

Someday I really want to go to Iceland and shoot -- among lots of other things -- chunks of icebergs that wash up on a black sand beach.  Here I had a chance to get a taste of what that might be like.

Three things I learned -- small chunks of ice like the ones here aren't terribly compelling, I need to get lower for a more interesting background, and ice on ice isn't as inspiring as ice on black sand.

I pivoted south along the beach to take in the warm golden hour light bathing the trees, then decided to pack up before my fingers froze and/or I stepped on my glasses.  Fortunately, neither of those things happened.  And I ended up with my best shots of the trip so far!