Winter continues here in NEPA with several inches of snow falling over the weekend. It wasn’t the quantity that the weather channel girl had called for, but it was still enough to put a blanket over the landscape, so Sunday morning I pulled myself out of bed before sunrise and headed out to the lake.
As sunrises go, it wasn’t very spectacular; the twilight colors were actually better, with a lot of cool purple tones on the snow. Mostly, it was just cold. Jacket-penetrating, toe-numbing, bone-chilling cold. By the time I stumbled back to the car, I couldn’t feel my legs. That’s when you know it’s cold.
A comment on Paul’s first post mentioned HDR, which is a technique that I don’t often use (more on this to come). But it got me thinking about it, and given the wide dynamic range of sunrise, I shot a few bracketed series. Only kept the two above; I preferred the standard exposure versions of the others.
The light didn’t last long and as soon as sunrise was over, it started to go flat. By that time I was nearly frozen, so I wrapped it up and headed home, anticipating my first cup of hot coffee.
Brent Pennington is a professional photographer and the driving force behind The Roving Photographer. When he’s not working with commercial or portraiture clients, he’s usually out in the field pursuing nature and wildlife shots.
