Showing Up
Showing up is 99% of the work. Photographer Bryan Hansel likes to say, “If you don’t show up, you’ll never take the photo.”
As my wife will attest, I’m not a morning person. But landscape photography demands rising early, driving to a location, and then hiking to be in position at least 45 minutes before sunrise when good light can begin to happen.
Sunsets are easier. Since good light can appear as late as 45 minutes past sunset, you need to stick around. Then you have to hike out and drive back to the hotel, where you set your alarm for an early wake-up call to repeat the process.
In the winter, long nights offer more hours for sleep between dawn and dusk. But in the summer, sleep is at a premium. After a few nights of sleeping only five hours, showing up requires commitment.
When you head out, you never know if it’s going to be worth the effort. While weather forecasts are increasingly accurate, the only way to know for sure is to show up.
The Caribou Rock Trailhead
This trailhead is located 23 miles north of Grand Marais, Minnesota. It takes about 20 minutes to hike this moderately uphill trail from the parking lot to West Bearskin Lake Overlook. Since the Overlook faces northeast, this is a sunrise photo opportunity.
West Bearskin Lake is located almost at the Canadian border in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region.
The Shot
The weather forecast didn’t look promising on the morning of October 4. “Severely clear” boring blue skies were predicted. But showing up is the work of photography.
So, our intrepid group of photographers rolled out of the sack at oh-dark-hundred to drive north. After an interesting hike in the dark guided by flashlight, we arrived at the overlook 45 minutes before sunrise.
At first, it appeared to be a bust. There were patches of fog, but the light and sky were anything but photogenic.
Suddenly, golden light bathed the landscape as the sun broke the horizon. For a few minutes, the sunlight danced with the fog creating a magical scene.
My go-to-lens is usually a wide-angle to capture an entire scene. This morning, two tiny islands over a mile away caught my attention. I switched to my telephoto lens and made them my subjects.
After the good light faded, we packed our gear and started down the trail to the parking lot. Along the way we met quite a few hikers asking about the view. While it was still pretty, it didn’t hold a candle to the gorgeous light we had witnessed earlier.
A wide-angle view as we left. Note the two tiny islands in the distance that are the subjects of my telephoto shot
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus