First Light at Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park

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You know that feeling when you were a kid on Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/<insert holiday here> morning and you were up before everyone else waiting in anticipation to get/open your gift(s)? While visiting Glacier National Park earlier in the year I had that feeling every morning. Much like Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/<insert holiday here> morning I woke up too early on the day I took this photo of first light at Two Medicine Lake. I got in to place to photograph sunrise an hour too early and being rather groggy it took me about 30 minutes to figure out why the sun wasn’t coming up as expected.

I’d much rather wake up an hour too early than an hour too late. In this instance I took the extra hour to just enjoy my surroundings even if temporarily confused by the lack of appearance of the sun. The highlight of sunrise was seeing the first rays of light filter through the atmosphere painting the face of Sinopah Mountain a deep red and magenta. Unfortunately this moment passed much too quickly. Thinking back to how it felt to see, experience and photograph this location I’m reminded of the cold clean air, silence and intense awe that came over me as the light falling over this scene transformed the landscape. In retrospect I’m not surprised I find myself waking up extra early to photograph such scenes as I live to experience every minute of these moments.

Technorati Tags: landscape, photography, stock photo, fine art, Glacier National Park, nature, Two Medicine Lake, Sinopah Mountain