Some mornings in the mountains don't feel real until you're standing in them.
I made this one at sunrise in Aspen, just as first light hit the Maroon Bells and a moose moved quietly through the golden aspens along the water's edge.
The still reflection, the glow of the fall color, a moose stepping into the frame. Things only line up like that for a few minutes at a time.
The Bells are one of the most photographed places in Colorado. But watching that moose work his way across the foreground turned it into something more personal, a quiet broken only by movement in the water and the sounds of an early morning.
That's what this one's about. The connection between wild places and the moments that make them feel alive.