Hike to Dream Lake

When trying to decide what I wanted for my birthday, the only thing that I could think of was to go to Rocky Mountain National Park, and take some pictures of sunrise.

Of course, this meant getting up and leaving my house at 2;30 in the morning, but it was totally worth it!

My partner and I left early in the morning, and were treated to a wonderful early morning hike up to Dream Lake in the park.


We had our headlamps out, but with the near full moon we could have hiked the trail without them. This was Deanna's first time up to the park, and she was excited to see what it looked like coming back down.

The best part of the hike, was sunrise at Dream Lake. the moon was setting just to the right of Hallet Peak, providing for an interesting photo opportunity.

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The starburst in this image, is actually the moon setting over Hallet Peak. I was hoping for better color on Hallet for sunrise, but it just didn't happen.

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After the moon set, I wanted to move up a bit, and get a different angle. This part of the lake was so still, I was able to get a perfect reflection off the water of Hallet.

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After I took the Hallet shots, I was looking around, and almost missed this one. This is one of my favorite shots of the day, I really love the way the rocks are lit up, and the depth of the trees in the background. It is easier to see this when you click for the larger view.

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After we were done at Dream Lake, we decided to go the extra little bit up to Emerald Lake. The shot above, and the one below were both on the trail on the way up. You follow the river that feeds into all the lakes on the way up to Emerald. Gorgeous hike, I highly recomend it.

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This is the last picture I took. This was up at Emerald Lake.

Birthday Sale

It is my 28th birthday, and I have decided to have a sale on all of my work though the Art for Conservation website!

From now, until the end of August, I am lowering my prices 28% off their normal prices!

You can get an 8x12 fine art photographic print for as low as $36.00! Normally $50.00!

You can also purchase gallery wrapped canvas giclees of my work, they come with wire, and hanging hardware, so you can take it out of the box, and it is ready to put on your wall!

You will not only be supporting me with your purhcase, but a percentage of all sales from the website go to support conservation causes around the world!

So go to: http://www.artforconservation.org/artists/mariamontano before time runs out!