Blue Lemonade

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100mm Macro f/2.8L IS, 1/8 sec at f/4, ISO 400
Macro Image using Focus stacking from 22 images.

We all have those “gotta get away” moments in our lives. Knowing that wildflowers would be blooming in Mount Rainier, I thought it would be a good to book a hotel and head out for a few solo days of photography and writing. I had been to the park in the past and remembered it being beautiful, glorious, perfect and serene. I could picture the mountain from Reflection Lake with the flowers in full bloom down below, a nice foreground element for the beautiful landscape image.

And then the clouds rolled in.

I woke up at 4:00 am to make the drive out to Reflection Lake well before sunrise, hoping to get a few nighttime star shots while both the sun and moon were set. It was so dark, but I could tell that there were clouds. No big deal, I thought. The clouds will just make the mountain sunrise even more beautiful!

And then I realized … “what mountain?”

As soon as the sun started to rise I realized I would be scrapping my perfect idea of a photograph—all I could see was a white blanket of fog and clouds where a glorious mountain should have been. If I hadn’t been to this spot before I would have continued driving, looking for the mountain, thinking I would find it if I kept on going … but knowing this location and what I would find I was seriously doubting that I was even in the right spot as I could see nothing. Where was the mountain?

So instead I used my “lemon” of a morning to make lemonade. I relinquished the idea of getting the “obvious” photo, and went off in search of smaller beauty to put my Canon 100mm Macro Lens and brand-new +Really Right Stuff macro rails to use (you can see the BTS setup for this shot here: http://bit.ly/RdFdRh). After searching for about 30 mins I found this little guy, just waiting for me.

My blue lemonade.

Happy #macromonday , everyone!
cc: +Kelli Seeger Kim +Kerry Murphy +Jennifer Eden