It rarely gets cold enough in the valley to freeze even the shallow lakes at Ridgefield. This sunrise is equally rare, the sun is just about to crest the hills to my left.
I spent most of my time at Horse Lake this winter watching wigeon, pintails, ring-necks, and a juvenile heron that often worked the water’s edge. But I couldn’t resist a scenic picture when I saw the shallow lake had frozen and was reflecting the colors of the sunrise. It wasn’t until a long while later while playing around with the image on my iPhone that I wished I had also switched to my telephoto lens to isolate the distant shore.
It’s so easy and fun to play around with composition on the iPhone and iPad, I wish I had them when I was first getting started in photography many years ago, but better late than never.
A heavy crop of the picture above shows what I wish I had taken with my telephoto lens.
A wider shot of Horse Lake, where in the past I haven't spent much time since it is the first lake on the auto tour and attracts a lot of visitors. It's more of a large pond than a small lake, but this winter I spent a lot of time there and came away with a number of nice pictures.
