I'v always wanted to get the photo of the famous Maroon Bell. So we took a trip to Aspen and camped the night before near by. To get the photo I wanted I would need to be at the lake before sunrise. What I was hoping for was no wind on the lake. I wanted to capture the mirror reflection of the mountain in the background. At the same time I also wanted the early morning sun shining on the peaks of the mountains.

When I arrived at the lake before sunrise there was already a line of photographers with tripods lining the shore. This is a daily phenomena as photographers come from around the world to capture this amazing scene. There was no wind when I set up. As the ambient light began to show in the scene I took some shots of the lake with my tripod set on a fixed position. The water was still and I got the reflective mirror like effect I wanted. By the time the sunshine hit the mountain the wind was blowing enough to cause ripples in the water. So no one could capture the combination of sunshine and still water reflecting the shining golden mountain in the background. I was able to combine two photos to capture the image shown below.

This is what the water looked like when the wind was blowing.

I took one more photo from a unique perspective below the beaver dam.