Mt Grinnell Alpenglow – Many Glacier, Montana.

Sunrise light on Mt Grinnell and Mt Gould. This image was taken few minutes after Sunrise Cloud Movements over Swiftcurrent Lake. I much prefer the clouds in the first shot, but I do like the alpenglow here.

PS: I’ve been too busy lately … trying my best to find time to post.

Sunrise cloud movement over St Mary Lake – Glacier National Park, Montana.

I spent a sunset and two sunrises here on Wild Goose Island, and each time, the light was different. A few minutes after I took this shot, the sky colors disappeared as rain clouds blanketed the eastern sky. It would have been perfect to get this sky and the same alpenglow light that I saw a few days earlier. This is a single exposure shot with three GND filters.

We ended up hiking in the rain to a couple waterfalls later that day to finish our trip. There are still some more photos from this trip that I might post later when I find the time, but this is the last good photo that I took during my trip. If you follow my series thus far, I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed capturing them. Glacier National Park is very beautiful, and my photos don’t do it justice.

Sunrise over St Mary Lake – Glacier National Park, Montana.

Remember my St Mary Lake’s Rising Run Sunrise post? This Wild Goose Island alpenglow was shot about half an hour after I photographed Rising Sun Sunrise. I wished that I had a better sky to work with this beautiful morning light. This is a blended image from a single RAW exposure.

Although this is not a very original composition, I decided to post this image to setup for my next post showing the exact same view with a different sky.

PS: my new 1TB hardrive died, thus it took a while for me to restore my photos from backups and to get back to posting.

A fiery sunrise over St. Mary Lake’s Rising Sun – Glacier National Park, Montana

Continuing from my last post, I photographed this St. Mary Lake sunrise scene the following morning.

I had six mornings in the park, and each morning, I woke up before dawn (4am California time) to get to my location. Knowing that the weather on the high mountains are always unpredictable, I made a very conservative plan. I targeted three locations for sunrise and allocated two mornings for each site to increase my chances of catching good light on each location.

One of my intended sunrise locations was arguably the most photographed spot in Glacier National Park: Wild Goose Island. Seeing the eastern sky colors when I passed the Rising Sun boat dock, my heart skipped a few beats. When I arrived at Wild Goose Island, nothing, no cloud, nada! I rushed back to Rising Sun to catch what was left of a good sunrise. The sunrise light I saw on Swiftcurrent Lake was beautiful, but this was the most intense morning sky that I saw during my trip.

If I had the chance to shoot this sunrise again, I’d get down to the Rising Sun boat dock and worked from ground level. There weren’t too many choices as far as composition goes from where I was: right on the side of the road looking down a steep cliff. If I didn’t waste precious time running back and forth between the two locations, I would have had enough time to find a different frame.

The Garden Wall and Going To The Sun Road in the evening light – Logan Pass, Montana

Didn’t think I’d get good sunset light to work with on Hidden Lake, I left to find a better spot and found this scene near Logan Pass: The setting sun illuminated the Garden Wall, revealing the Highlight Trail above Going To The Sun Road.

This image is a digital blend from a single RAW exposure shot with a two stops soft edge GND filter. Getting this shot was a good way to end a productive shooting day: the previous five images I posted came from a single day of shooting from sunrise to sunset. I wished everyday in the park could be that fun, but it rained half of the time we were there.

Hidden Lake and Bearhart Mountain – Logan Pass, Montana

The Blackfoot Indians refer to this part of the Rockies on the continental divide as the “backbone of the world”. I thought it’s a fitting title for this image showing Bearhart Mountain towering above Hidden Lake.

After a morning hike to checkout Grinnell Lake, we went up Logan Pass to see Hidden Lake. The Hidden Lake trail is one of the prettiest walks I’ve done: blooming flowers, running water cascades, imposing mountains… There was even a small ice field for those wanting to get off the trail for a little climb. After spending about an hour up there watching the mountain goats in their natural habitat, we left early. If there were more clouds, I would have stayed until sundown.

Aerial view of Grinnell Lake from Grinnell Glacier Trail – Many Glacier, Montana.

After spending the morning hours photographing sunrise on Swiftcurrent Lake, I took off on a scouting hike up the Grinnell Glacier Trail. I normally don’t shoot much during the day time, but I took out my camera and tripod when I saw this mesmerizing view: sun to the left, waterfalls to the right, towering peaks in front, glaciers in the distance, dramatic clouds above, and the spectacular turquoise water of Grinnell Lake below. Although I used a 2 stops soft edge GND filter, the contrast was still too extreme: the mountains were in dark shadows. I needed a digital blend to bring out some details on mountains while retaining some of the sky textures. I also boosted contrast to reduce the distance haze on the left side.

Visiting Glacier NP in the near future? Definitely don’t miss this hike. The glaciers will be gone soon. Curious about the turquoise glacier lake water? Look up glacier flour.

PS: I’m on the road again this weekend – will resume posting more next week. Have a good weekend.

Mt Gould Alpenglow at sunrise on Swiftcurrent Lake – Many Glacier, Montana.

I was experimenting with bulb exposures to exaggerate the cloud movements, but as the beautiful sunrise light lit up the top of the mountain range, I removed two of my GND filters to cut down my exposure time. Knowing that this beautiful alpenglow wouldn’t last long, I hurried a few shots before the intensity of the sunrise light faded. Perhaps this was the best sunrise light that I was lucky enough to catch during my trip.

The previous morning, I got out on the lake shore at 5am and waited for the sunrise alpenglow that never showed up. Two of the Many Glacier hotel employees joined my company. I asked them about their experience with sunrise on this lake. They described how they once saw the three peaks (Mt Gould, Mt Grinnell, Mt Wilbur) became infernal volcanoes spewing out fiery clouds! On this sunrise, I witnessed a glimpse of what the “locals” get to see.

When my new sunrise companions found out that I write computer software for a living. Both of them stared at me for a few seconds, “What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere in the dark?” I replied, “Once in a while, I love to get a way from the computers, turn off my cellphone and get off ‘the grid’ for a few days to find myself again.” They both nodded in approval. We talked about how beautiful this place is during the summer and how isolated it can be in the brutal winters. Both later offered to take me on a guided hike to hidden place with caves and waterfalls. I was tempted, really tempted, but I politely turned it down. Perhaps next time, I might take up on their offer …

Swiftcurrent Lake sunrise – Many Glacier, Montana.

Although we encountered wind gusting 25-40 mph and rains during our week long visiting Glacier National Park, this area is one of the most visually stunning locations that I have visited. The diversity of photographic opportunities were amazing: rugged mountains, towering peaks, dramatic clouds, turquoise lakes, raging waterfalls and cascades, exquisite flora and exotic fauna … I was in heaven. No wonder why this little corner of the world is known as “The Crown of the Continent“. Over the next few weeks, I will post a series of photos that I managed to capture during my time there.

This ninety seconds exposure was taken during my second sunrise photographing Swiftcurrent Lake in the Many Glacier area. The prominent peak on the right is Mt Grinnell and Mt Gould is under those fast moving clouds above the valley. Both mornings, the strong wind destroyed all the lake reflections:(

To maximize the wind effect, I stacked three GND filters (3 stops hard + 2 stops hard + 2 stops soft) to simulate solid ND filters to lengthen my exposure time. With the sunrise light changing rapidly every minute, I could not afford to experiment with too many of these long exposures and loose the exquisite sunrise light. In my next post, I will upload a much shorter exposure of the same location shot a few minutes later.