Friday, January 26, 2007

Lake McDonald Sunrise




My photographic claim to fame is a single photo published in Popular Photography magazine. My wife and I had attended several of the Mentor Series workshops and in 2001 I made this photo of a sunrise over Lake McDonald in Montana.

Lake McDonald is the largest lake in Glacier National Park. Our workshop group was not staying in the park so we had to leave the hotel very early to arrive for the sunrise. It was a cold day in June but I really, really wanted that sunrise picture. My Canon EOS 7 (film camera) was mounted on the tripod and the aperture was set at f16 or so for depth of field. Being uncertain of the exposure, I bracketed by changing shutter speed extensively. After the slides were processed, I was surprised to find that no individual exposure was exactly what I wanted.

Since I was beginning to learn Photoshop, I decided to blend two of the slides to make one photograph. One slide was selected for the sky exposure and another for the foreground. Although my technique at the time was crude, the final result was more or less as I had hoped it would be. The composite was displayed at the Mentor Series website. Later that year, “Lake McDonald Sunrise” was selected for publication in Popular Photography magazine in an article about the Mentor Series workshops. I know I kept that issue of the magazine but now can’t find it.

We enjoyed the Mentor Series workshops. Someday we’ll do another one. Who knows, maybe I’ll be published again!

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