First and last light can create some really powerful imagery, and as I’ve been discovering, infrared is a tool for further accentuating this lighting scenario.  Both of this week’s images are last light, but that part doesn’t matter so much, what I appreciate about both of these images are the heavy shadows and the stark contrast that was created with the light.

For the image above, as with last week, by this time there was no color in the sky, but I was still looking around parts of the mountain that were being singled out by the light.  This particular ridgeline happened to reach out from the shadow of the peaks above it, as the shadows of the mountains between it and the sun began to climb its edges.  I played with these scene until the light was totally gone.  It was extremely fun to watch play out.

For the image below, I scouted around on the Foothills Parkway East a number of times this past fall, and on one such outing I was admiring Mount Cammerer as the sun was beginning to set and I noticed the deep shadows forming in the ridges leading up to the peak.  The zigzags leading up the mountain are what really caught my eye, so I framed them hoping you could also see the old firetower on top (if you look really closely you can see it sitting up there).  It’s always interesting to me that you can see it from so far away!

More next week!

–Dan Thompson