Sa-wing and a miss...

I met Cloudman sunday morning down at the Garden of the Gods before sunrise. I had never shot the GOG's before so who better to get the tour of the area than Cloudman? The forecast called for a wintery mix of fog, rime ice and light snow, perfect for a potentially a great outing. Once I hit the Palmer Divide I was socked in with fog. Not long after that I began to see the photography potential when I noticed the landscape was substantially rime iced. I met Todd at 6:00 and he wanted to hit the Rampart Road for sunrise. About a quarter mile up the road everything was iced up beautifully. Sure we wanted the fog level to be higher but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. I was just hoping for a clean sunrise. We parked and set up waiting for the big sunrise on Pikes Peak. Everything was in order for a nice photograph; however...a bank of clouds had settled in on the eastern horizon, thus eliminating any low light opportunities for about 20 minutes after sunrise.

At any rate, we shot that scene and headed down to Garden of the Gods and I got a nice mini tour of the beautiful park. I'm certainly looking forward to spending more time down there in the future.

Nothing too special here, but you can at least see the potential. I do find it interesting looking at the distant fog line, and that everything up top is snowless, and below is another world.

Crop sky or not? Does the moon look forced into the image?

I like the direction of the shot. Call the moon a 'beauty mark' to offset the symmetry of the mountain ridge; ok perhaps a lower moon might help but we work with the moment. Cool foreground.

At about the same moment your photo was taken, I was two miles out in the middle of Badwater / Death Valley discovering how to photograph the geometric tiles of the dry salt lake. Moon was also a bit higher than I wanted.

Seeing a snow shot makes my day. Thank-you!

Hey Kane, I like this shot a lot, and think the moon adds a big bonus. I didn't even attempt to include any moon, and now, seeing your shot, I regret it. I want to see more of what you got from the morning. Check the forum later and I'll show what happened later that day, too.

Nice image, Kane. I think all of the elements really convey the conditions and give a real sense of a cold winter morning.

That is easily a "stand-up double."
No, seriously, Kane, it's a home run. You have nice flow from the foreground to the middle ground and on to the background sky. And, the sky has just enough clouds in it to make it interesting. Then, the moon adds one more layer of depth imo. The rime ice is great as well. I would like to have this shot in my portfolio.

Morris I appreciate the nice feedback. Maybe it was a special morning. Just wanted more. I suppose that's what all of us say everytime we head to the hills.

Todd, here's my last effort of the day. Not really sure where I was or what I was shooting but I do count this one as my fav of the day.

Its a two image stitch with my 45mm.

I really dig the PP shot for the intense foreground - the moon adds a nice extra dimension. There's no way I'd crop it.

That's pretty sweet, Kane! My sunrise was a bit of a bust too (the clouds that would have made it spectacular arrived about 20 minutes too late) and i drove 360 miles for it...

Love the color in the repost pano! And the comp as well.

I agree with Dave's thoughts about the foreground on the first photo. It's awesome and the moon adds to the image as well. Beautiful second post too and an unusual comp that works extremely well.