I wanted to show the following two images in the same blog post to emphasize the difference that night and day and light and weather can make to an image.  I love the changes God makes in our light and in the weather!  I love the mood weather makes in an image, like: fog, dark storm clouds, mist on water, long shadows from early morning or late evening sun, raindrops, snowflakes, etc...

We were on a fall trip recently, when I took this image at dusk of Lake Cascade, in Idaho.  I hadn’t planned to photograph sunset on this particular night, since we wouldn’t arrive in Cascade until about the time I would’ve been setting up to do so, and we had to drive around some of the lake to see what campgrounds were still open.  When we finally found our campsite for the night, the sun had just set and we were hungry and ready to get some dinner.  The sky was so pretty though, I just had to grab my camera.  There was no time to set up my tripod, search for an ideal composition or fiddle with gear, as the colors would soon fade, so I did what I could with the scene in front of me.  I took the shot handheld, and in a hurry.  There sure was nice color in the sky and a beautiful reflection on the water.

The next morning, I looked outside and it was snowing!  It hadn’t been all that long since the beautiful sunset, and now I could barely see a hint of the lake and couldn’t see the sky much less reflections. I went outside and captured this image trying to match the composition of the sunset the night before.  I was a little off, but not too bad, considering I could no longer see the rest of the composition and was going from memory. (Which, if you know me is risky at times. Ha-ha)

Our RV is not set up for all season, so we headed for lower elevations and some more fall color.  We were just not ready for winter just yet.  After all, this was our fall trip!  :)

What moods do these pictures evoke for you?  I'd love to hear how they make you feel in the comments section below!