Icy Blast

[JimFox]

This was from yesterday up in the RMNP in Colorado. This is at Dream Lake, it's a little over a mile from Bear Lake and is a snow covered trail. I made it with just ice crampons on my boots but I carried my snow shoes just in case. It was a nice warm 25 degrees, but it had winds of 40 mph blowing which really lowered the temps with the wind chill.

Just as I got to the trailhead I ran into a photographer who was giving up as she said it was too windy, and after she had fallen had decided it was enough for her. I knew it would be a challenge, but I went anyway as I am not one to give up easily. I carried my tripod, but in the end I didn't use it accept at Nymph Lake which I shot the peak sunset colors at on my way back. Up at Dream Lake the ice was pretty bare and made for some nice compositions. The sweet bubbles in the ice that I got last year was not here this year, but the ice was still interesting.

The hardest thing was the wind, at 40mph it was hard to stand up straight at times. A few times I had to crouch down on the ice to not get blown over. My snow shoes hanging off the back of my backpack didn't help either, acting like wings at times.

In this image, if you look in a distance there is a guy on small skies being blown down the lake towards me. I got some shots of him flying down towards me, unfortunately as he got closer and I was so amazed at the sight as he whipped by me while yelling hi, that I completely forgot to take any photos while he was closer and whizzing by. That would have been cool... Oh well.

All comments are welcome and I am thinking on maybe cropping off from the left side a bit, as the peaks are off center, but then the ice seems to balance it. So I am not sure.

Jim

 

[Brian]

That is a great photo Jim. Totally worth the effort.

 

[Ben Egbert]

That pattern in the ice is neat.

 

[AlanLichty]

Pretty neat scene. Distinctly chilly looking even without the wind.

Glad the real icy blast is to the east of you. Outdoor time with the temperatures in the midwest right now would be downright dangerous.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Very nice Jim. Love the colors and the light.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Beautiful. I like it as is. This would make a really cool zoom into the mountain in a slide show.

 

[Nilo Photography]

Beautiful capture...It's sure is worth it!

 

[Bill Swartzwelder]

Very nice, I enjoyed the story of you getting there as much as the photo.

 

[JimFox]

That is a great photo Jim. Totally worth the effort.

Thanks so much Brian! And it was great meeting up with you for lunch today.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Very cool scene - glad you made it up there (and back safely!). I'd probably clone out the skier, but that's just me. I don't think you need to crop from the left - the dark rock on the lower left adds some good visual mass to help balance the off-center peaks and light. Cropping may push it too close to the edge. Did you take any zoomed in tighter? I'm thinking something that pretty much just includes the clearer ice, peaks, and the best light. I wouldn't want to give up any of the details you found, I'm just curious.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

Great fun to meet up today at lunch! Glad we were able to make it happen! And hopefully not the only time we get together either.

This looks even better on the computer - love the light and I agree with some other posters who do not feel any need for a crop of the left side. I do know what the wind can get to be like up there - it sounds like it was very challenging conditions but nice that you made it through and got such a sweet shot.

ML

 

[MonikaC]

Nice colors, Jim. And good effort on the perseverance! If you crop the left, I would also crop a bit of the right just to emphasize the verticality Hallets combined with the leading lines of the ice. But I don't think it's necessary. Curious if you did a vertical here (which would do the same thing).

 

[JimFox]

Very nice, I enjoyed the story of you getting there as much as the photo.

Thanks Bill, it was a fun day to share.

 

[JimFox]

Very cool scene - glad you made it up there (and back safely!). I'd probably clone out the skier, but that's just me. I don't think you need to crop from the left - the dark rock on the lower left adds some good visual mass to help balance the off-center peaks and light. Cropping may push it too close to the edge. Did you take any zoomed in tighter? I'm thinking something that pretty much just includes the clearer ice, peaks, and the best light. I wouldn't want to give up any of the details you found, I'm just curious.

Thanks for your thoughts on the crop Kyle. Yeah, I may just clone the skier out. I do have a few other compositions along with different patches of clearer ice. I shot a few tighter and I can always crop in more too.

 

[JimFox]

Nice colors, Jim. And good effort on the perseverance! If you crop the left, I would also crop a bit of the right just to emphasize the verticality Hallets combined with the leading lines of the ice. But I don't think it's necessary. Curious if you did a vertical here (which would do the same thing).

I am glad you like this Monika, and thanks for your thoughts on cropping. I did shoot a few verticals in a couple of the spots, but I have enough resolution that even as I was shooting I was thinking I would just crop vertically on some.