I spent the evening hiking the trail around Reflection Lake yesterday. The ecosystem at that elevation is spectacular. In a matter of 100 feet the trail moves from wet, marshy willows to sandy soils with Ponderosa pines towering overhead. Along the trail are numerous small lily ponds. I decided to go with minimal equipment on this hike as I didn't have long before the light would be gone for the day. I brought along a 100mm macro lens and a monopod. What I soon discovered is that during the late evening most of the interior forest is completely in shadows. While I had been hoping to find some beautiful "wrap-around" light on an interesting subject, I wasn't so lucky this evening. I assumed the light was gone for the day so I had hoped to at least find an interesting subject to photograph. I came across a lily pond and figured I'd use my macro lens to get some nice shots of the lilies and perhaps a frog if I could get close enough. The low light levels made it difficult to hold the depth of field that I needed for the macro images. As I was reviewing images on my LCD I noticed one of the images had some amazing light in the top corner. I simply glanced up at the scene and saw the most amazing shafts of light on the opposite side of the pond. The angle of the light, the shadows of the trees, and the reflection in the water were perfect. I had about 20 seconds to reposition against a tree for stability and capture this image before the shafts of light were gone. I was reminded of a great lesson Fred Larson of the San Francisco chronicle taught me. Fred said that if you want to make great images, go to where the great light is and find a subject. If you expect to make a great image of a certain subject and don't have great light, you may never succeed. On this hike I had lost my focus on looking for great light and was just hoping to get an interesting subject in front of my camera. I became so wrapped around the technical aspects of the macro shots I was attempting that I almost missed this brief moment of light. So remember what Fred says - If you want to make great images, go to where there is great light. The rest will work itself out.
