Restless

Canon EOS 6D |EF 17-40 f/4L @34 | 302s | f/11 | ISO 100 | Lee 0.9 HE GND | Lee 0.6 SE GND

This image was from an entirely unplanned trip to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. Having since moved to VA, I feel lucky that I can now reach locations like this one on a whim. Without setting an alarm or planning, I woke up up at 3:30 in the morning. After feeling completely restless and unable to sleep, I decided that I may as well use the opportunity to try and take some photos. At 4:30 I left my apartment and headed west. An hour later I was on top of a mountain and ready to take some photos.

I was worried the whole drive that the weather was not going to cooperate and I would end up with another dud of a sunrise. As I approached the park, still in the pitch black dark of night, I noticed a layer of clouds that seemed to extend to the edge of the mountains and then stop. As the early dawn light began to light the sky, I knew that I might just luck out. While not the most amazing sunrise I have seen, the clouds did not disappoint and took on lots of wonderful subtle shades of color.

When I finally stepped out of my car it was still completely dark, and I realized I had mistimed the sunrise a bit. So I waited. The weather was not very friendly to me and at about 20 degrees with bit of a steady wind, I was very cold. Then it started to snow. The snow itself wasn't all that bad except it kept landing on my lens and filters and made things difficult.

After half an hour out in the cold, the sky slowly began to light up. I set up my camera and got to shooting. In addition to the light in the sky, I noticed a great haze along the ground and inbetween the mountains that only intensified as the light got brighter.

This particular shot was taken about half an hour before the sun rose. I was originally planning to crop out the foreground, but after I processed the shot, I really liked the texture picked up and left it in to help anchor the rest of the image. I was also particularly pleased that I was able to catch a few lights off in the distance. Hope you enjoy!