Sometimes, you just have to stop the car and get out. The drive through Frisco, CO. was an enjoyable one. The morning was full of warm sunshine, but, as the day grew on the clouds moved in. As you know clouds can add a sense of depth to a landscape, which made me think about Dillon Lake. From a higher perspective I found the view that I liked best. It allowed me to create a foreground of pines and aspens. The afternoon clouds accomplished two benefits for me. First, as I mentioned, they will create a feeling of depth in the final image. Second, the clouds created a soft light to the scene making exposure and development easy to handle.
The darker pine trees across the lake fell on EV 12 – Using an orange B&W filter I adjusted my exposure for two stops more exposure. Exposure was ¼ sec. at f-32.
Since the clouds fell on EV 15.5 my development was plus 1.5. My 5 x 7 negative is printed on Ilford FB paper.
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![Nymph Lake, Colorado]()
Bear Lake is a very popular lake to visit in the Colorado Rockies. It’s only a short walk from the parking lot where you will find a beautiful view of Halletts Peak and the scenic Bear Lake. It takes only 45 minutes to walk around the lake and enjoy the many views. If you choose the right day and the right time of day, you may have several opportunities for some wonderful photographs. I have had the opportunity to visit this area on numerous occasions and I know I have made many negatives of this lake. I have printed a few that I enjoy very much and I know the location has many more photographic opportunities. From Bear Lake it is only another 20 minute hike up the trail to Nymph Lake. It is very peaceful and beautiful place to explore for detail photographs, not the grand scene. This particular print of Nymph Lake was intriguing because of the delicate lilies reflecting the strong side light. The use of a wide -angle lens would have captured more of the lake and overall scene but the lilies would have been much smaller and not conveyed the composition I had in mind.
Those photographers that are a bit more ambitious may wish to continue on up the trail to Dream Lake. It’s another hour strenuous hiking up hill but well worth it once you arrive. Plan on spending a few hours here so packing an apple is a good idea. The best time to be at Dream Lake is shortly after sun up as well, so you must start your hike in the dark. It’s worthwhile to be familiar with the hike since it is easy to lose the trail and then begin to wonder where you are and how in the world did you manage to get there. Of course this has never happened to me….
This negative was made with my 5 x 7 inch Deardorff on T-Max 100 film.
I used a 450 Nikon Lens at f-32-1/2 at 1 second. No filter was used.
I metered the trees in shadow on the left at an EV of 8.5 and placed them on Zone III. The highlights on the lily pods indicated only a three-stop difference at an EV of 11.5 - so when I developed the negative I added enough time (plus 2) to increase the highlights to a Zone VIII. This is the control the zone system allows. I can have darker shadows with detail and beautiful highlight with detail. That’s the goal.
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