Uncategorized Archives - Light and Landscapes

Chasing the Light in Lower Antelope Canyon

June 12, 2025 by John Caplis

Upper Antelope Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Canyon X, all part of the Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park, have become world-famous destinations for photographers. The Upper Antelope Canyon is famous for it’s light beams in the summer months when the sun is directly overhead. Lower Antelope Canyon is not known for light beams, but its canyon walls are famous for their flowing shapes and patterns that can be beautifully lit in shades of purple, red, orange, and yellow.

The signature rock formation in Lower Antelope Canyon is called the “Woman in the Wind”, as it looks like the figure of a woman leaning into the wind as her hair blows backward. I was lucky to get this image on a late afternoon tour when the lighting was dim but evenly lit in this part of the Canyon.

The Navajo tour companies no longer offer photo tours in the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons. They also do not allow any bags or tripods on these general tours. They still do offer a photo tour for Canyon X, and which allows the use of tripods. If you bring a stand alone camera to take photos in the canyon, I recommend you use a camera strap or shoulder sling, as you will want to have your hands free for navigating the more narrow passageways as well as going up and down the stairs and ladders.

Access to the downstream end of the Lower Antelope Canyon is down a set of six installed stairwells and ladders.

Photography in the canyon is very dependent upon the light. To get vibrant colors, you need reflected light from a clear sunny day. However, when the sun is highest overhead, it will shine directly down on the lower canyon walls and canyon floor, creating uneven lighting and hotspots. Timing your visit to catch the best light, which in May meant either in the early morning or late afternoon, is critical. This post is a mix of images I took on a cloudy day and on a sunny day. Each offers different opportunities. This area is called the “Lion’s Den” as the rock formation on the lower right looks like the head and mane of a male lion.

This image of the Lion’s Den was taken on a cloudy day. There was no direct light (or hot spots), and not much reflected light. As a result, less color but relatively even, lower contrast lighting. A second point to highlight here is that there are many people touring in front and behind you the whole time. You will have to work to get shots without people in the frame. Your tour guide will not let you linger waiting for a view without people. I don’t know if its better to be at the back or front of your group, I tried both and had stretches of good and bad luck with both strategies.

One of my navajo guides telling me to catch up with the group (while I was using the “back-of-the-bunch” strategy). Oops, my bad!! LOL, this happened a lot.

People in your photo can add interest (I like the hat, as it stands out) as well as scale, which is often difficult to discern in the canyon. on the cloudy day, I took a single exposures for each scene, making sure I was not blowing out any highlights.

For the sunny day, I shot a high-speed burst of three bracketed exposures for each image to capture the range of light. I set my camera mode to manual, but Aperture Priority with some exposure compensation applied may actually be the best technique. I found I could blend two of the three images and get a good result, picking two for each scene that gave me the best range of light for processing. The yellow areas where direct light was on the canyon walls is very bright compared to the areas of red reflected light.

Some light sneaking into the canyon during a mostly cloudy day.

Curves in the passageways often were great places to catch shapes and reflected light.

Looking up to the sky often was often some of the most stunning views. Flowing, curving canyon walls and lots of colors. And bonus, never any people in those shots!

A fun spot in a small archway where the guides stop to take your picture with your camera if you want it.

The indigenous peoples of the area, such as the Navajo and the Hopi, believe these canyons are sacred and hold much positive energy from the earth and their ancestors. Our guide, Ben, a member of the Hopi Tribe, wanted to share the positive energy of the canyon and sang us a Native American honor song. It was amazingly beautiful and a bit haunting. As he was singing, the wind kicked up, as if he had summoned the forces of nature, and sand started raining down into the canyon from above. The wind and sand continued for the remaining portion of our tour, creating a magical environment as we walked through clouds of sand and reflecting light beams on our way out of the canyon.

One of a number of places where sand started blowing down into the canyon and was reflecting light in the canyon.

One of the light beams we had to walk through on our way out of the canyon. When I toured the Upper Antelope Canyon and Canyon X back in 2013, the guides always had to grab some sand from the canyon floor and toss it in the air in order to get the sun beams to show up well enough to photograph them. This time, it felt mystical and spiritual, as it was all mother nature doing the work. It was a surprise, because the Lower Antelope Canyon is not known for having light beams.

Exiting on the stairs at the end of the upstream end of the canyon.

View of the upstream exit to the canyon from above. As you can see, the top of the canyon is very narrow in this area, and it may be why we were seeing the light beams in this end of the canyon. This image was taken on an earlier tour when the skies were much more clouded and rainstorms were passing through the area.

Please visit my Lower Antelope Canyon gallery to see more of my favorite images from my two trips here chasing the light!

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Sunset at Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon National Recreational Area

June 2, 2025 by John Caplis

Horseshoe Bend is a breathtaking turn in the Colorado River that is shaped like a horseshoe. It is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, and is easily accessible via a short 3/4 mile hike. When I visited this site in 2013, it was simply a small gravel lot and a dusty path that led down to the canyon rim where you had to muster the courage to venture out to the edge with its sheer 1000 foot dropoff. I remember crawling on my hands and knees, and then my belly, with camera in hand, to get to the edge for an unobstructed view of the river bend below. Today is much different, with a gated entry to a pay parking lot ($10 per vehicle), restrooms, shade areas built along the path, and fenced railings installed along parts of the overlook. I think these are all good improvements, for both convenience and safety, but there are also many more people. 1.5 million people visited the bend in 2023. Another reminder of how visiting the West is quickly changing. In 2013, my images of the bend were in unflattering light during the late afternoon, and I set a goal of trying to capture this amazing place in more pleasing light this time. I had one sunset opportunity during my visit, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!

The view overlooking the bend faces directly to the west. This makes shooting sunset here a bit challenging unless you have some clouds to filter the brightness of the setting sun. You can see the orientation of the sunset over the bend in this screenshot from TPE (as noted by the orange line).

I arrived at the overlook about an 45 minutes before sunset, and there was a heavy layer of storm clouds with a little bit of clearing sky on the horizon. I was loving the atmospheric moodiness!

It always amazes me how some people have no qualms about standing or sitting on the edge of a 1000 foot sheer drop in high winds.

As sunset approached, the sun started to peek through a gap in the clouds! It’s hard to convey the vastness of this scene. These images were all shot with a Canon RF 10-20 mm super wide lens. Even at 10 mm, I could not get the all the canyon walls leading up to my vantage point in a single image.

As the sun finally hit a gap in the clouds at the horizon, the walls lit up on both sides of the canyon. I took three shots that I could piece together to capture the entire scene in one panoramic image.

I stepped back from my perch along the railing for this fun shot of the sunset. It had the best view of the river below, and I periodically shared it with others. Surprisingly, I think I was the only person I saw with an actual camera and not a smartphone. I was thankful to have the railing that I could lean out over.

There was a bit of color in the clouds to end an awesome sunset.

Smartphone evidence that I was actually there (as is the custom these days), and that it was windy as hell!

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The Otherworldly Landscapes of White Pocket, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument

June 1, 2025 by John Caplis

White Pocket, in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, has long been on my bucket list of places to hike and photograph. It gets its name from the white “brain” or “cauliflower” rock and the many small pockets in the sandstone that collect and pool water after passing rainstorms. White Pocket has become a popular location for photographers and hikers, but its relative inaccessibility keeps the number of visitors to a reasonable number on most days. The site can only be reached by driving nearly a half hour on washboard-ridden gravel roads, followed by another half an hour on a deep sandy two track road (a high clearance all-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive vehicle is a must). Thanks to Action Photo Tours and our guide Kevin Dobo, Rhonda and I recently enjoyed the otherworldly landscapes of White Pocket without having to worry about getting stuck in deep sand out in the wilderness. I chose Action Photo Tours because they cater specifically to photographers, and the timing of their White Pocket Sunset Tour is focused on the late afternoon, sunset, and blue hour timeframe.

We were treated to some great atmospheric conditions during our visit, with a mix of sunlight, moody clouds, and passing rainstorms.

The walk to White Pocket is only a ten minute hike once you reach the designated parking area. It is a small, concentrated area, with geologic features oriented north to south in an area a half mile wide and three-quarters of a mile long. There are a number of popular photo hotspots such as The Tree, the Citadel, the Swirl, and the Sentinel, however, there are interesting areas of brain rock and red, yellow and white sandstone throughout the White Pocket area.

One the first photo spots you will see as you walk from the parking area to toward the White Pocket brain rock is “The Tree”.

Another prominent landmark is The Swirl, with its amazing mix of sandstone colors.

Understanding the orientation of the landscape and the direction of the lighting is important at White Pocket. As most are oriented in a north-south direction, one side will be well lit while the other side will be in shadow during the morning or afternoon golden hours.

White Pocket looks incredible when it is directly illuminated with sunlight. The western face of the sandstone formations catch the warm sun as it gets low in the sky before sunset. This image was taken from The Swirl looking back toward the Citadel (upper land hand corner).

Water pockets are most common during the monsoon season during late July and August. However, we did manage to find a few, which started reflecting nicely once the wind died down just before sunset.

Shadow selfies at another water pocket. Notice the hiker in orange standing near the top of the brain rock formation (you can also see him if you look closely in the water’s reflection too)!

As sunset approached, I focused on some intimate details creating leading lines on the slopes of the Citadel. The red sandstone in this area just glowed!

Great shadows and colors on the slopes of the Citadel.

Some intense clouds moved in for sunset.

Some surprising last minute twilight glow.

The last bit of glow from the sun on some brain rock during our blue hour trek back toward the parking area.

Click Here to see more images from my visit to White Pocket.

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Industrial Landscapes at Bethlehem Steel

May 8, 2025 by John Caplis

The site of the former steel plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has been repurposed into a music and arts venue called SteelStacks. The steel mill blast furnaces have been preserved as a historic backdrop. The plant made steel for over 100 years before closing in 1995. It’s steel has been used in many of America’s most iconic buildings, bridges, and stadiums. The Hoover Mason Trestle was a narrow gauge railroad that was used to carry coke, limestone and iron ore to the blast furnaces. The trestle now includes an elevated public walkway that parallels the railway and blast furnaces. 46 feet in the air and nearly 2000 feet long, the walkway provides an amazing close-up look at the heart of this once mighty steel mill.

The public walkway on the Hoover Mason Trestle, situated between the railway and the blast furnaces, offers a up close vantage point for photography.

Grand landscapes

The row of blast furnaces is an industrial landscape that can be captured on a grand scale. Five furnaces run end to end for a quarter mile with the highest components standing 230 feet tall. As the walkway is immediately adjacent to the furnaces, a wide angle tilt-shift lens is the perfect tool to capture the tanks and stacks rising into the sky while maintaining proper vertical perspective. With a normal wide angle lens, such tall objects tend to point toward the center of the image when photographed up-close and your camera is tilted upward.

Early morning sun behind the silhouette of a blast furnace. EF 24 mm TSE lens.

Patinas of rust and paint

Ladder and safety cage on riveted smokestack. RF 70-200 mm lens @ 150 mm.

Capped piping next to a welded tank. RF 70-200 mm lens @ 175 mm.

Another beautifully weathered smokestack. RF 70-200 mm lens @ 180 mm.

Intimate Details

This immense site is full of interesting little details that can be captured with a medium or long zoom lens.

Industrial strength grit. RF 70-200 mm lens @ 200 mm.

A surprising spiral staircase. RF 70-200 mm lens @ 150 mm.

Shadow Play

The early morning sky had no clouds, but the direct lighting made for some interesting shadows.

Something unexpected

Turkey vulture launches from its steel perch. RF 70-200 mm lens @ 200 mm.

Industrial Infrared

Some amazing clouds finally rolled in and it was time to break out the infrared camera. Sadly, these beautiful skies did not last long before it became completely overcast. These shots were taken with a Canon R6 mirrorless camera converted to infrared with a super color filter and EF 17 mm TSE lens. The 17 mm TSE lens was perfect for including more sky in the images than would be possible using the 24 mm TSE from the up close vantage points on the walkway.

Park foliage shines with a “goldie” false color channel swap in processing.

More industrial drama with infrared converted to black and white.

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Fishing Ospreys on the Rappahannock River

April 27, 2025 by John Caplis

Every spring between late March and early May, an anadromous fish called hickory shad migrates up the Rappahannock River from the Atlantic Ocean to lay their eggs. This shad spawning run is an attraction for local fly fisherman and a time of plenty for ospreys, also known as fish hawks. The fishing spectacle is also great opportunity for concentrated, action-packed bird photography, with numerous ospreys frequently diving into the river and emerging with their catch of shad. Old Mill Park in Fredericksburg, Virginia is a great place to catch the action.

Talons fully extended milliseconds before hitting the water.

More often than not, they emerge with a fish in their grasp.

The afternoon hours can provide backlight in the tailfeathers and reflected light under their wings.

I used the Canon RF 200-800 lens for these images, which were further cropped in during processing. 600 mm seemed like a good focal length for tracking, and then zooming in further to photograph them with their catch.

A low wing flap while taking off with their catch.

Shutter speeds between 1/1600 and 1/2000 of a second worked well to keep things sharp but still allow small hints of motion. Auto ISO combined with -1.3 stops of exposure compensation kept the exposure in a good range that prevented the white feathers on the ospreys from being overexposed on a sunny day.

Osprey shaking off water as it flies away with its catch.

Continuous auto-focus tracking is a must. A high speed frame rate will ensure you have some nice wing positions to choose from for your image. The stacked image sensor and the electronic shutter on the Canon R5 Mk II worked together very well to eliminate “rolling shutter” which can distort wings in motion.

Clean non-distracting backgrounds, good lighting, wing and tailfeather posture, and eye contact with the osprey (and the fish), were key elements I was looking when selecting images.

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Chasing Smoking Blackbirds at the Neabsco Boardwalk

April 16, 2025 by John Caplis

I recently purchased a Canon RF 200-800 mm lens, which I thought would be a good for shooting wildlife and birds. The lens offers a great zoom range with a lot of reach at 800 mm. It is not a particularly fast lens as the maximum aperture is f9 at 800 mm. I wanted to see how it would perform fully zoomed out in low light conditions. I decided to test it out during the a recent cold front that brought unseasonable chilly weather to our area. Why chilly weather you ask?

My objective was to test the lens while photographing “smoking blackbirds” at the Neabsco Regional Boardwalk Park in Woodbridge. Blackbirds have a loud, shrill birdsong that requires them to exhale forcefully. With the right weather and lighting conditions, you can capture the blackbird’s breath as they make their birdsong. Cold is the first necessary ingredient. Calm conditions is the second, as it doesn’t take much wind to quickly dissipate their breath. Finally, you need clear skies at sunrise to get backlighting on their breath that will make it stand out in your image. On this morning in early April, it was a brisk 28 degrees, with 70% humidity, calm winds, and clear skies. The Neabsco boardwalk travels across a large tidal wetland and is oriented in a way that gives you good access to photograph blackbirds that are between you and the rising sun. The RF 200-800 was great in providing the necessary reach to get shots of the blackbirds in the marsh. All of the blackbird images in this post were taken fully zoomed at 800 mm, and were further cropped in during processing.

The birds have a tell tale sign for when they are going to sing. They arch their back and fan out their tail feathers during their birdcall. Even so, it happens rather spontaneously. Having continuous pre-capture shooting enabled on my Canon R5 Mk2 camera ensured that I got a good series of shots each time. The direction of the backlighting is also important. Some angles will illuminate their breath better than others, and you have to experiment to find the angles that work best.

With the maximum aperture of f9 when fully zoomed, the bokeh was pretty good when there was some good distance between the bird and the background. If there was brush nearby in the background, its becomes a bit busier, and you have to be mindful of the framing in your composition.

At ISO 800 and a shutter speed of 1/400 sec, I was easily able to capture sharp images using this lens. Topaz DeNoise worked well to clean up noise in the background, however, I did not apply it where the bird’s breath was visible, as I wanted to preserve all the fine details in that part of the image.

All these images were shot handheld with the lens attached to a shoulder sling. I did find it little difficult to keep this lens still for any extended period of time due to its weight and size. Using the boardwalk railing to steady my aim helped out when I started getting wobbly.

I hope you enjoyed these images from my smoking blackbird adventure!

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Sunrise over the National Mall During the Spring Equinox

March 24, 2025 by John Caplis

The Spring Equinox is a special time for photographers in the Washington, D.C. area. This is due to the east-west alignment of the National Mall and the sun rising due east and setting due west on the horizon during the spring and fall equinoxes,. The Netherlands Carilion Bell Tower at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Virginia is a well known photo spot for photographing the full moon when it rises due east on the horizon over the National Mall, due to its spectacular view that features an alignment of the Mall’s most iconic landmarks. This same principle applies here for sunrises on the days leading up to and immediately after the equinox. I recently made a trip down to this spot on March 23, 2025 to photograph the morning twilight and sunrise behind the U.S. Capitol.

The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) screenshot showing times for civil twilight (6:40 am) and sunrise (7:07 am at 87 degrees on the horizon) and the alignment of the sunrise (gold line) with landmarks on the National Mall.

Once I arrived at the Bell Tower, I went to shoot a quick image of the beautiful twilight sky over the National Mall. I like this particular spot due to the good separation and spacing between the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, at the Capitol dome.

Morning Twilight, 6:30 am, 270 mm. What a beautiful red sky against the well lit landmarks!

I then used the Augmented Reality tool in the Photopills app to fine tune my location in front of the bell tower for the sunrise. I had to move about thirty feet to the left from my twilight location to make sure the sun first appeared slightly to the left of the Capitol. This new location closed the spacing between the landmarks, but gave enough space that the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument were just beginning to overlap. More importantly, it ensured the sun would begin to rise on the left edge of the Capitol dome.

Pointing the camera in my iphone toward the National Mall,, I was able to see where the sun would be rising in relationship to the landmarks in the scene from where I set my camera up using the Photopills app. From where I set up my camera (you can see my lens at the bottom of the image), the sun should follow the diagonal line and rise somewhere between Washington Monument and the Capitol. Keeping my fingers crossed as there can be a small margin of error between what your phone shows and the exact location where things actually happen, but its pretty close.

The following is my series of images for the sunrise over the U.S. Capitol! The first three images are a combination of two exposures for the overall scene and the sun’s disc.

7:09 am. Love the sun bursting through the windows of the Capitol dome.

7:14 am. I was surprised that most of the other photographers had already packed up and were leaving when I took this image. It is a single shot exposed to give a smooth transition from the sun to the rest of the scene, which makes most everything else appear dark, creating a nice contrast of shadowy silhouettes and highlights in the trees.

I love how the light and colors change over such a short period of time between twilight and sunrise.

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Total Lunar Eclipse Over the Washington Monument

March 16, 2025 by John Caplis

The “worm” full moon became a beautiful total lunar eclipse from 2:26 am to 3:31 am on March 14, 2025. During totality, when the moon is fully covered by the earth’s shadow, it turns shades of red and is often called a “blood moon”.

Timeline for the eclipse on 14 March 2025.

I found out from The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) app that the lunar eclipse would occur very high in the sky (49 to 43 degrees in elevation) on the southwest horizon (208 – 228 degrees true north) during totality. My goal of putting a widely recognizable landmark next to a close up view of the eclipse would require something that is very tall!

A TPE screenshot showing the elevation and direction of the moon during the peak of totality at the Washington Monument. The red boxes on the timeline denote the direction of the moon for the beginning, peak, and end of totality. The gray line shows the direction of the moon at the peak of totality. The lower grey box shows the elevation and direction of the moon that corresponds with the gray line.

The top of the Washington Monument is approximately 555 feet tall. I used the Photopills app to determine how far away I would need to stand in order to line up the moon over the top of the Washington Monument.

A screenshot of the Photopills app showing the approximate location where you would stand (red pin) at the beginning of totality in order to put the moon immediately over the top of the Washington Monument. From this spot, the moon would be 565 feet high over the monument location (black pin).

The weather forecast for DC was very “iffy” regarding cloud cover. As I departed Northern Virginia at 12:40 am, the skies were crystal clear. We made the 50 minute drive to DC with no traffic and easily found parking on Constitution Avenue very close to the Washington Monument. I used the “AR” function in the Photopills app to fine tune where I should stand to put the eclipse at the top of the Washington Monument for the start of totality. This worked very well, and it put me in the right place at the right time to get the shot. Unfortunately, as soon as we got in place, a thick layer of low clouds began to roll in. Shooting the eclipse became much more challenging. You had to wait for gaps in the clouds to pass in front of the moon to get a usable shot. Often the eclipse would disappear completely and reappear briefly before disappearing again. As the moon was constantly moving across the sky, it became a guessing game where to exactly set up your camera so that the eclipse would be directly over the monument when the eclipse would appear. The cloud moisture in the air also filtered out light from the moon, making the already shadowed moon dimmer. This made getting the moon in sharp focus difficult, and also required higher ISOs and longer shutter speeds than what is usually desired. Despite these challenges, we were able to get a handful of nice images over the hour of totality.

Wide angle shot (29 mm) at the beginning of totality. A nice view of the overall scene, but the view of the eclipse is very small. You could see a shadow of the monument in the clouds being cast by the lights on the ground illuminating the site.

I brought two cameras, one with a 15-35 mm wide angle lens to get the whole monument in the shot with the lunar eclipse, and one with a 100-500 mm telephoto lens to get close up images of the lunar eclipse with the top of the monument. Using a wide angle lens to capture the scene makes the lunar eclipse very small! I still like the shot, as it gives you a sense of the overall view of the scene from the ground level. After getting a few wide angle shots at the beginning of totality, I switched to shooting with the telephoto lens for the rest of the eclipse. My plan was to get a series of shots spanning from the beginning, peak, and end phases of totality. For each of the closeup images to be made, I had to focus and expose for the moon, and then separately focus and expose for the monument. Each pair of images were then manually combined in photoshop for exposure blending and focus stacking in the final image.

Beginning of Totality at 2:28 am. Taken with the 100-500 mm lens at 254 mm.

Near peak totality at 2:55 am. Taken at 500 mm. At this focal length, you can clearly make out aircraft warning lights and the viewing window frames for visitors at the top of the monument.

Near peak totality at 3:04 am. Taken at 300 mm. The eclipse was more evenly lit and was more visible in the shadow areas.

Totality at 3:15 am. Taken at 270 mm. For this composition, I zoomed out to include more of the monument textures, moved my shooting location to place the eclipse lower and to the left, and increased the exposure to bring out some color in the sky and the edges of monument’s shadow. The position of this shadow changed as your shooting location got closer to the lights on the ground. As the moon was gradually descending across the sky from left to right throughout the period of totality, in order to keep the eclipse over the monument, you had to keep repositioning our camera to the left and backwards. This meant continually moving closer to the lights on the ground, which brought the shadow more directly behind the monument. I initially thought the shadow would be too distracting, but for this composition I liked it and I thought it tells more of the story of this cloudy night over DC.

Beyond the end of totality at 3:40 am. Taken at 500 mm. I wanted to get an eclipse shot that featured a sliver of direct sunlight on the moon while the remaining portion was still visibly red in shadow. Notice that the illuminated part of the moon has shifted to the top left, whereas as before the start of totality it was at the top right.

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Tale of Two Sunrises on Two Jack Lake, Banff National Park, Canadian Rockies

February 17, 2025 by John Caplis

During my September 2024 trip to the Canadian Rockies, we enjoyed two very different, but fantastic sunrises at Two Jack Lake. Two Jack Lake is in the Lake Minnewanka area of Banff National Park, just outside of the town of Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Two Jack Lake can be found immediately south of Lake Minnewanka and is a short drive from the town of Banff.

For the first sunrise, it was a very crisp, cold morning. There was very little wind, creating a mirror-like surface to the lake. Due to the extremely cold temperatures, there was also some great fog rising up from the lake.

Early morning serenity on Two Jack Lake.

I alternated between taking images that included the trees and their reflection on the left, and a more closeup view of the fog and mountains on the far side of the lake.

Subdued twilight colors as the first pink rays of light start to hit the left peak of the mountain top.

Watching the fog roll across the lake and rise up into the sky was incredible. I took a timelapse video to capture the movement of the fog as the sunrise lights up the mountain ridge from left to right.

Two people enjoying the sunrise view from misty fog of the lake.

After the sun had fully lit up the mountain top across the lake, we decided to head out in search of other areas where the fog might be catching the early morning light. As we were leaving, we stopped to take this elevated view of Two Jack Lake from the roadway as we were heading to Lake Minnewanka.

An elevated view of Two Jack Lake framed by fall foliage.

Several days later, we came back to Two Jack Lake for another sunrise, hoping to catch more fog but with more color in the sky. It was a warmer, windy morning, with more clouds in the sky. These conditions were not conducive to fog, and there were no reflections to be had this morning. But it did give us some great color in the sky. It always amazes me how different images can look only several days apart.

Beautiful red clouds in the sky as the first rays hit the mountain tops to the left.

An onlooker enjoys a spectacular display of alpen glow across the face of Mount Rundle.

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Winter Comes to Old Town Manassas

January 12, 2025 by John Caplis

Throughout January 6th, 2025, Winter Storm Blair blanketed the Manassas area with 8 inches of beautiful snow. I have always wanted to capture an image of the Manassas Train Station covered in pristine, new fallen snow. As the storm was winding down that night, I decided to brave the howling winds and cold to take a walk-about around Old Town Manassas and photograph some of its landmarks and street scenes. The town was still regaled in its holiday lights, banners, and decorations which added to the beauty of these winter cityscapes.