Shot of the Month – January 2024

This month we travel to Glacier National Park in northern Montana for an iconic view of Swiftcurrent Lake.  I shot this image on the rocky edge of the lake looking west toward Grinnell Point – the tall peak in the center of the image.  Grinnell Point is part of the Lewis Range of mountains.  This spot is also the site of Many Glacier Hotel – this historic hotel was built in 1914 and commands epic views of the lake.

This image makes up the “Fire” part of this post.  I arrived at the water’s edge long before sunrise and set up my tripod and camera.  As I sat in the dark for the second morning in a row I had to wait for the sun to slowly climb above the mountains behind me.  My heart began to jump when I sat the first orange beams light up the clouds.  With each moment the light got warmer and slowly painted the scene from top to bottom.  First, the clouds caught fire and then eventually the mountain began reflecting back that glorious warm glow.  I kept shooting feverishly until the color began to fade.  Success!

In the image below we see the “Ice” part of this post.  I am at the same spot along the water’s edge, this time in late afternoon with the sun setting behind the mountain in our view.  This time the clouds were a bit too dense to light up dramatically with the sunbeams.  For this image, I used a very long exposure (90 seconds) to allow the clouds to move across the sky and smooth out the surface of the water of the lake.  The tone and color of the image couldn’t be more opposite than the sunrise shot.  This shot is dark and brooding and feels and looks ice cold.

It is always fun to revisit a scene over and over to explore how the look, feel, and tone can change dramatically with the time of day.  With the change in weather.  With the change in seasons.  At any given moment Mother Nature offers the proverbial box of chocolate with each scene —  you are never sure what delight you will get.

Until next month…..m

Nikon Z9, Nikon 17-35 mm (@17 mm), f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 64