Alaska Range Sunrise

At 20,310 feet, Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley) is the tallest mountain in North American. It is part of the Alaska Range , a 400-mile long mountain range in Southcentral Alaska. Seen here from Anchorage, it is over 130 miles away as the crow flies. To the left is Mount Foraker at 17,402 feet. Because of their height and latitude in the sub-Arctic, they are covered in snow and ice (glaciers) year round.

On this cold, clear November morning, the first rays of the rising sun were beginning to illuminate the Alaska Range with warm, yellow light. In the foreground, in darkness, was the Knik Inlet and Susitna Flats covered with ground fog. This image is a composite of two photos; an in-camera motion blur of the foreground was combined with a sharp image of the mountains in the background. The result is a study in contrasts of texture and color: smooth, wavy, and foreground with the hard, sharp background against a soft sky; and, cool blues and grays of the foreground with the warm yellows and oranges of the background.