November Reign Wrap

I shot at least one picture (actually, at least three) every day of November for the third time in 2017. As awesome as it was to get back into the habit of waking early every morning, it was pretty nice to be finished with the project on December 1, too.

Now I can just shoot sunrises when I want to, and I don't have to be creative on gray days or cloudless days if I don't feel like it.

And yet, there's something wonderful about meeting the challenge of attempting to get an outstanding and different sunrise shot when the skies just aren't cooperating. Or something unique each day, even though almost every workday sunrise of the entire month was spent in the same place.

I'm very pleased with the final results!


Of the 30 days, four were completely overcast, with no sunrise whatsoever.








No color today in my sunrise,
No color today in my view!
No rays to bathe the landscape;
Christmas lights will have to do!
Five days were cloudless or nearly cloudless.










More than half the remaining 21 days were out of this world!


I walked 72 Charity Miles capturing sunrises during the month of November.

I shot three timelapse sequences, and each one was progressively better, from a skill standpoint.


Now, here's the biggie. I shot 2,734 photo with the Nikon point-and-shoot P530 and the Nikon "Big Gun" D300. I confess I used the point-and-shoot most days because it's lightweight.

I shot 230 sunrise photos with the iPhone.

My online November Reign gallery contains 355 edited individual photos.

Highlights from the month include an impromptu trip to Fort Collins when my adopted son asked me to meet him there on a workday to help him with an urgent venture. I couldn't believe I was able to get the day off from work with only a day's notice, and I couldn't believe it when, en route to Fort Collins at 4 a.m., my son let me know he didn't need my help after all. I'd decided to shoot sunrise photos of the new Fort Collins Temple before meeting my son when I first found out. When plans changed, I decided I'd go ahead and shoot the sunrise anyway. It was worth it.






On November 13, I was able to capture the celestial rendezvous of Venus and Jupiter with my tiny little point-and-shoot! I was SO thankful some perfectly positioned clouds provided a focal point for the camera, which doesn't work so well in manual focus mode.


Lookout Mountain has been one of my favorite Denver sunrise destinations for years. Whenever Lizard rides the Triple Bypass or Double Triple Bypass, I drop him off at the start line, drive to my favorite Lookout Mountain curve, park legally and then shoot the sunrise while Lizard pedaled up a dark, closed-to-vehicles, two-lane highway for the first leg of his full-day, 120-mile journey. I'd then travel back to Idaho Springs and snap photos of him as he entered the realm of open highways.

I've shot SO many sunrises from Lookout Mountain!




It was even a good location for moonrises, too.


Snowcatcher photography isn't going to be taking place on Lookout Mountain Road again any time soon. My two favorite pullouts have been closed to any kind of activity at all. No stopping, no walking, no trespassing. That's what we discovered on November 25 when we headed up there together on Lizard's day off to shoot the sunrise.

We found a legal pullout where I could walk along the ridge for about 600 feet and snap a partially blocked view of the sunrise, which was already in progress. Lizard parked the car while I hurried out onto the ridge, only to find a couple... Well, let's just say they might have been more comfortable in a hotel room. We exchanged uncomfortable acknowledgements, I snapped two or three quick hand-held photos of the skyline, and I hurriedly left them alone.

Lizard met me as I returned to the car, sunrise now complete and color gone. I explained why I hadn't waited out on the ridge for him, and we decided together Lookout Mountain is just not a good location for sunrise photos anymore. Darn!


Before Thanksgiving, Lizard and I headed south for the only two-day break we shared the entire month. We visited the Paint Mines near Calhan and Bent's Old Fort near La Junta. We spent the cloudless predawn on the shores of Holbrook Reservoir. I managed to shoot a couple of photos before we heard gunshots. It was hunting season, and we were surrounded by geese. Until the shots rang out, that is! We decided that probably wasn't the safest place to be before the sky fully lit up, so we hit the road and stopped again on a bridge above the Arkansas River to see if we could catch another colorful shot or two.

The sky was beginning to brighten, and the photos weren't dynamic anymore, but I heard an owl hooting beneath the bridge, echoing out over the river, and it was one of the coolest morning songs I've ever heard in my life! I wish I could have recorded it to share now!


So many fun memories of the month! So many pictures to cherish for life.

Here's my second-favorite sunrise from this year's project.


And here's my most favorite shot of the entire month. I slid out onto frozen Echo Lake on my belly the day after Thanksgiving to get the light coming through the chunk of ice. It took nearly an hour to warm up my legs and torso after that. This shot might be my favorite photo of the entire year.

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Wordless Wednesday

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I Saw Red

One of the reasons I chose November for my sunrise-a-day challenge is because we always seem to get the best sunrises of the year in the eleventh month. Partially as a result of low sun angle, the clouds, when not totally overcast, can be heavily bejeweled by our jet stream and pre-winter weather patterns.

I sought red, and I found no shortage, morning or evening!

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Friday Fortius

"Gracias, danke, merci—whatever language is spoken, 'thank you' frequently expressed will cheer your spirit, broaden your friendships and lift your lives to a higher pathway as you journey toward perfection. There is a simplicity—even a sincerity—when 'thank you' is spoken." - Thomas S. Monson #loveoneanother #sunrise #NovemberReign

A post shared by Snowcatcher (@thesnowcatcher) on Nov 17, 2017 at 7:57am PST

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Sunrise Passion

A couple of weeks ago, I captured a full-sky sunrise that made me wish I'd brought along my Big Gun fancy Nikon and my fisheye lens. I carried the fisheye with me every day after that, hoping for a repeat sun and cloud performance. On November 19, the dark predawn sky revealed a narrow band of clear horizon and no stars above.

I was finally going to get my chance!


My dear, sweet Lizard had bought me a Gorillapod a week earlier specifically so I could shoot a time lapse sunrise on my way to work without having to lug around the wonderful, big, heavy, sturdy, dependable tripod he bought me for Christmas last year. I'd carried the Gorillapod in my backpack each day after he bought it, but sunrises didn't cooperate until November 16. I didn't pull it out that day because the color began exploding too quick, and I didn't want to miss a single frame.

On November 19, I didn't have to be at work, and I was finally going to get to try out the Gorillapod, too!




I'd planned to return to the picnic table at Chatfield Reservoir I'd photographed earlier during my November Reign project because I could get great reflections, and I could set up the Gorillapod on the table so I didn't have to sit down on the ground to look through the viewfinder.


Little did I know, the tide was high, and the table's feet were now under water. Frozen water.

I braved the ice, punching through and completely immersing my feet while trying to be careful not to slip on the ice while fully loaded with cameras, gloves, sunglasses and the Gorillapod. Oh, well. I've survived worse. I could still make this dream shoot happen.

The cloud bottoms began turning maroon and bright orange as I set up the point-and-shoot Nikon on the Gorilla pod on the table. I snapped a couple of shots with the fisheye while I worked. The fisheye wasn't as satisfying as I'd anticipated, but it caught a unique (to me) view.


After setting up the point-and-shoot, I pulled out my phone. I've got a special app that allows me to remotely shoot the little camera with the phone, preventing camera movement. I turned on the phone, selected the camera, then repeatedly tried to fire the point-and-shoot by pressing the little button on the phone. Nothing was happening. The clouds were now crimson, and I was missing out. Meanwhile, another photographer just down the beach a little way was firing away, click, click, click... And his feet were dry. He was on the sand with two big tripods.

My big tripod was in my car, but it was too late for that now. I turned off the phone and turned it back on, hoping the camera would sync up again, but I couldn't get the two pieces of modern technology to communicate at all.

I tried to turn off the camera, thinking a reboot would fix everything. The camera wouldn't turn off. I picked it up, Gorillapod and all, and slid open the battery compartment, detached the battery long enough for the camera to power down, then replaced the battery, closed the compartment and set up the Gorillapod again. The sunrise was now in full blaze glory. I shot another frame with the fisheye. This time, I put the horizon straight across the center of the frame to avoid curvature.


It's not a bad shot at all. But I think I'd hoped for more color and less darkness around the edges. Even cropped tightly, there is still a lot of deep, dark blue.


The phone had gone back to sleep, so I turned it on once again and reconnected to the camera's wifi. The horizon wasn't level, and I was photographically missing the sunrise. I detached the camera's wifi, picked up the camera with Gorillapod still attached and began shooting the sunrise. I decided to try the Big Gun on the Gorillapod, even though I knew the good camera was too heavy for this particular model of Gorillapod, which was made for small, lightweight cameras.

The big camera flattened the Gorillapod, I was still missing the sunrise, and my feet were as frozen as the camera had been!

Off came the Gorillapod, into my coat pocket it snuggled, and both cameras took wing as I (successfully, thank heavens) tried to fly across the ice without falling. Around my neck both camera straps landed, a super no-no now with two collapsed cervical discs. But I had to put on my gloves. I couldn't take the cold anymore. My fingers were frozen, and I couldn't remedy the situation with cameras in hand. Yes, my neck hurt, but my fingers were now covered!






I walked along the beach to stay warm as I took shots with both cameras, occasionally removing a glove to manipulate camera controls. My fingers would get icy cold again. I was shivering. I couldn't wait to get back to my car. What a morning this was turning out to be!

Until I got home and downloaded both cameras. When you snap awesome sunrise shots, it doesn't matter how many times the camera and/or phone screw up or how cold fingers and toes become.

What matters is the eye-popping shots so delicious, you can't wait to go out again the next day and do it all over again!

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