Horseshoe Lake May Sunset

Delight in the Golden Hues of Sunset:

I had been thinking about creating a sunset image from somewhere in this area for a while.  It seemed like every time we had a good sunset I was elsewhere.  On this day we took a chance on a breaking storm and things were staying pretty cloudy in the directions we were trying to shoot.  As the day was ending it looked like the clouds were opening up in this direction and there was a potential for sunset.  The only problem was, we were 2 miles deep into Upper Park.  After a forced march and a lot of looking at my watch, the sky, and my watch again we opened up to the lake.

There would be no waiting around, taking my time to debate the spot in my mind and then make several final adjustments.  I had maybe 5 minutes to get the tripod set up and my first image captured.  After using 4.5 minutes getting everything just right, I was able to get the first, most important image.  The pressure was now off and time to enjoy the next 30-40 minutes of watching the sun go down.  I was able to get all the other images while stretching out the tight legs from the speed walk.

While we were high tailing it trying to make the sunset all I could think of was, “Probably 10 minutes too late again.”  Super excited that wasn’t the case!  It is a really good feeling heading home knowing things worked out.  This image was easily 3+ hours in post-production with 7-8 layers, but every minute of that time is just as fun as the time I spent capturing the moment as it happened!