And without further ado, here comes the final installment (with commentary of it all as it happened if you can be bothered reading)...
From around 5.30pm through until 8pm I pretty much rested and played a waiting game other than a few shots here and there.
Waiting for what I hear you ask, well firstly for 8.37pm which is when the sun was due to set.
If you think this is where the day got easier you'd be mistaken, as with the time it takes the sun to set being counted in a matter of minutes I knew that from the time the sun hit the edge of the crater from my vantage point just North of Skell Head that I would have only 10-15 minutes to make the ~8 mile drive back round the North of the crater rim to Hillman Peak where I could catch the sun dissapearing over the horizon with the rolling hills of the Cascades in the foreground.
Sunset shot 1 - Nailed, time to jump in the car and try to get to shot 2 in time...
From around 5.30pm through until 8pm I pretty much rested and played a waiting game other than a few shots here and there.
Waiting for what I hear you ask, well firstly for 8.37pm which is when the sun was due to set.
If you think this is where the day got easier you'd be mistaken, as with the time it takes the sun to set being counted in a matter of minutes I knew that from the time the sun hit the edge of the crater from my vantage point just North of Skell Head that I would have only 10-15 minutes to make the ~8 mile drive back round the North of the crater rim to Hillman Peak where I could catch the sun dissapearing over the horizon with the rolling hills of the Cascades in the foreground.
Sunset shot 1 - Nailed, time to jump in the car and try to get to shot 2 in time...
While trying to get myself back round to Hillman Peak to capture what was left of the sunset over the Cascades, the colour of the hills and surface of the water grabbed my attention as I neared Pumice Point, around half way between where I shot the previous image and where I originally planned to shoot from for my second sunset shot.
Gamble time, continue on and hope to catch the sunset at Hillman Peak, or stop, set up the gear quickly, capture a quick panorama from 3 images and potentially lose out on the remaining sunset...gamble, every single time...now would I make it to Hillman in time after shooting this trio of images...???
Gamble time, continue on and hope to catch the sunset at Hillman Peak, or stop, set up the gear quickly, capture a quick panorama from 3 images and potentially lose out on the remaining sunset...gamble, every single time...now would I make it to Hillman in time after shooting this trio of images...???
I can't begin to explain how much I was willing the sun to stay hanging in the sky for just a few minutes more, as the stop off beside Pumice Point had added a good 5 or so minutes to my original plan for capturing the sunset at this iconic location.
Thankfully as I reached North Junction the sun was still hovering slightly above the horizon, but with just under 2 miles still to drive I couldn't know if someone had broken down and blocked the road or some other random bout of misfortune to thwart my best laid plans...
Thankfully as I reached North Junction the sun was still hovering slightly above the horizon, but with just under 2 miles still to drive I couldn't know if someone had broken down and blocked the road or some other random bout of misfortune to thwart my best laid plans...
As I pulled the car to a halt at Hillman Peak the sun was just starting to breach the horizon, so with no time for error the tripod and camera were set up and the shutter button got a well earned workout, with the Sigma 10-20mm once again producing that amazing star pattern at f22.
Sunset Shot 2 - In the bag...and time to breathe again...
With the sun dipping over the horizon, and knowing that I had at least one shot in the bag from HIllman Peak (as well as having finally caught my breath again), it was time to get arty and shorten the exposure a little to get a much deeper glow as the sky started it's amazing transition from blue into reds, oranges and yellows.
With the somewhat frantic arrival at Hillman Peak I was 
completely oblivious to the other 10 or so cars which were parked up, everyone standing in silence either just watching the sunset unfold or capturing it just like me with their camera. It wasn't until I had shot this frame that I heard another shutter going off!
completely oblivious to the other 10 or so cars which were parked up, everyone standing in silence either just watching the sunset unfold or capturing it just like me with their camera. It wasn't until I had shot this frame that I heard another shutter going off!
With the sun now below the horizon it left behind it's amazing light show for everyone that had stayed behind to watch it.
For the 15-20 minutes which followed the sky started to burn with radiant reds, oscillating oranges and yummy yellows (ok enough of the random wordplay), by this point I had the remote trigger hooked up and was able to stand and admire the show as well as every so often making a small adjustment to the shutter speed to capture the amazing show of colour and light...
With the sun having set and dusk well and truly on it's way out the side door too, I made one final drive South along West Rim Drive back to Discovery Point to see if there was any light left to capture above the crater.
Thankfully I was just in time to grab the sky as it transitioned from red to orange to yellow to purple to blue and find finally black as night rolled in and temperatures once again dropped to just a smidgen above freezing.
An almighty day out at Crater Lake, one that will not be easily forgotten so a big tjhanks to the Crater Lake gods for putting on such a stunning show for me to capture and share with everyone (and hello to the park ranger who stood beside me as I shot this final image - who thought I was completely nuts for having been at the park since 4.30am...!!!)
Until next time...
If you want to see this whole lot unfold in a slideshow, then here's the link to the Flickr Set slideshow of the day with all of the images in this thread featured:-
Barry.
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