Once Upon a Time...
Once upon a time.. Five years ago I was married here at Crater Lake National Park in the wild flower fields to my best friend Nicole, and to commemorate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary we returned and stayed at the Crater lake Lodge. My wife and I also stayed at the nearby Diamond Lake Lodge and explored the Crater Lake area during our stay. We are Oregonians and we visit the area yearly, but this visit was a special one for us.
Numerous year round waterfalls can be visited from highway 138. If you're coming from Roseburg, stop at a visitor's center, look for a pamphlet called "Raging Waters" which shows many of the waterfall locations. Forest fires have devastated the area within the past couple of years, but mother nature is slowly healing the area. The damaged areas look surreal with the contrast of blackened trees and new green foliage.
I've been working on a side project with Star Wars action figures, it's been so much fun to incorporate action figures into my landscape photography.
Mount Bailey stands in the background of Diamond Lake, these two images represent Sunset and Moonset.
The day we arrived at Crater lake, the lake wasn't visible and the area was raining with low clouds, but it made for a cool picture! It rained most of the day, and cleared off late that evening.
I woke in the middle of the night about 2:30 AM and found the following scene though my window. Trying not to wake my wife, I setup my tripod and took a series of shots with different exposures and blended them together.
My wife and I woke at 4:30 AM to prepare for the sunrise. We didn't have to go far from the lodge to setup for the coming event, which was another reason to stay at the lodge. :) The sunrise DID NOT disappoint! Wow is what we were treated to, the visuals were amazing and the color and lighting were perfect! The last image showcases the lodge having the sunlight reflect off the building.
I've been visiting Crater Lake since I was young and I've seen it in all kinds of environmental conditions, clear, cloudy, rain, snow, winter, spring, summer, fall, but I've never seen the water so flat! There was absolutely no movement on the water, and the reflections were epic!
The Crater Lake Lodge is a historic place, rustic inside and out with modern conveniences making it a very romantic experience, one we will never forget!
Sasquatch even made a rare appearance and disappeared just as fast. Lucky for me my camera was ready!
I believe!
A beautiful lady, and two beautiful days.. and they lived happily ever after.
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