Misty Mountain Morning

I spent two days at Crater Lake earlier this month as my first visit there. Crater Lake is an awe-inspiring site, and seeing it first hand makes me realize how all the photographs I've seen from there really do not convey its grand scale. Needless to say, I was hoping for some good light, as I had just one morning to photograph Crater Lake at sunrise. About an hour before sunrise I took a short hike from the road to the rim of the lake and set up in a spot that had a good overall view of the lake and Wizard Island. It wasn't looking good from the start, not a cloud to be found anywhere. But I still kept my hopes up. You may be asking yourself, "what does Crater Lake have to do with the title and photo of this blog post?" Well, when the sun began to rise, it became increasing obvious that I was not going to capture a quality image that morning. But turning around towards the west, there was a beautiful mist blanketing the mountains in the distance. So I abandoned my plan, got out my long lens and shot several exposures of this scene with the predawn light glowing pink in the sky. I've heard other photographers time and time again talk about not having tunnel vision for a particular shot when you are out there, because an even better shot may be right behind you. So is the case here.