Winter Light.
The view at 4,802′.
There are 48 peaks on the official list of New Hampshire summits with an elevation of over 4,000 feet. Mount Moosilauke is #10 on that list. “The Moose,” is also the western most peak to be included on the list, and one I had yet to climb.
My reward for the effort, a snowshoe hike on a gorgeous brilliant winter afternoon under a clear blue sky, was to watch the sun as it set over windswept mountains and a moonlit hike back to the car.
As orange,
fades to blue.
Jeff Sinon Photography 
What a clever challenge combo, too (I still haven’t figured out how to do “Reward”)!
Stephanie, the trick is to play it really loose with your interpretation of the theme. I certainly have in the past. 🙂
Stunning!
Thank you, Sir!
Wow, breathtakingly beautiful images. Incredible.
Thank you so much!
Gorgeous!
Thank God for young legs, getting you to the top of the world for those gorgeous shots.
It’s what I live for! I don’t run for the fun of it, even though I do enjoy it. I don’t go to the gym because I want to become a body builder either. I do it all so I can get to the top of mountains.
Amazing place, Amazing colours and so well photographed.
Thank you, Paula. Yes, it most definitely is an amazing place. Any mountain top at sunset, especially in the winter, is an amazing place to be.
Gorgeous, definitely a reward 🙂
Thanks! I sure think so. And it’s not the pictures, it’s the being there. Late in the day, knowing I’ll likely have the mountain top all to myself or with only one or two friends, then a peaceful hike out under, mostly, the light of the moon, that is very rewarding indeed.
Fantastic images, Jeff. I can almost feel the crunch of that snow and the thrill of the wind!
Thanks, Gary. If there’s one thing you can say about Mt. Moosilauke it’s that it’s always windy. But oh what a view!
Gorgeousness…
So a question for you. In the second shot, how’d you get the sun to do that nice star effect and not just turn into a ball of hot white?
Thank you! The star effect is easy, I used a small aperture, f/11 in this case. The smaller the aperture the more pronounced the effect.
For the overall exposure, lately I’ve been using manual almost exclusively, with my camera’s metering mode set to spot. Then I’d meter off the brightest area in the scene that doesn’t contain the sun. I would then adjust the exposure so the meter in the viewfinder shows 1 1/2 – 2 stops overexposed.
I do have to do a little fine tuning, but for the most part that technique has worked really well for me as far as retaining detail in the shadows and not totally blowing out the highlights. Of course there’s really no way to not have the sun itself as a totally blown out circle. Unless I wanted everything else in the photo to appear as silhouettes.
Thanks for all that detail. I’m fond of working in manual myself, but had not ventured into the metering modes. Next project! 🙂
I feel the wind and hear the scrunch of that snow. Those pictures are magical. Thank you for sharing.
Hehe. I just read this article:
“landscape photographer: Semi-autistic person who likes spending long periods on their own and didn’t fancy taking up fishing.”
http://petapixel.com/2015/03/22/the-real-meanings-of-common-photographic-words-and-expressions/
But I did take up fishing 😀
I used to fish when I was younger. It’s fun and good food too.
I took up fly fishing and was hooked. No pun intended. Though I must say that the more serious I become with my photography, the less time I have for fly fishing.
Photography has a tendency to turn into an obsession. I’ve been thinking about buying an upright bass this summer (I’ve been playing bass for many years and always wanted an upright bass), but then I suddenly thought about a new camera… So now I’m thinking that I’ll go for a camera instead.
It really is isn’t it. It seems like there’s really no middle ground. People are either totally casual shooters, or like us go all in and are always thinking about the next photo. It’s like a drug.