I was out for a winter overnight camp to capture a gallery shot of the North Cascades in Washington. This was the start of a two-night winter snowshoe backpack way up high on Artist Ridge.

After the climb, it was time to dig in the tents and set up camp. Once camp was secured, it was back on the snowshoes to scout for the perfect view of the North Cascades. Once I found the spot and set up the camera, it was way too cold to stand around, so I started snowshoeing in a circle that would bring me back to my camera.

The last glow was so lovely on Mt Shuksan and all the peaks, and I captured many excellent shots. But things really got amazing as Alpenglow started setting in. I made a few compositional adjustments, set my 2 -stop Graduated Split Neutral Density Filter just right, and started capturing the shots, I kept the snowshoe circle going, as the temps were falling and the wind chills were well below zero.

Every time I passed the camera, I clicked the shutter. The Alpenglow went off and is still, to this day, one of the strongest I have ever seen. Once it started to fad, with shaking hands, I packed the camera away, threw my backpack on and immediately started snowshoeing towards camp to warm up.

Winter photography is far more difficult than any other shooting that I do. But with proper planning and preparation, it can be very rewarding. In the end, I nailed this shot, put it in the bank, and now it hangs in both of my galleries.