On a three-day snowshoeing backpacking trip to winter camp in Mt Rainier National Park, I came across this scene while hiking back to camp after an amazing sunset. The temperatures were dropping fast, so we were high-tailing back to camp.

It had been clear and cold for so long that all the trees were heavily coated in an amazing hoar frost. Even though I was freezing myself, there was no way I could pass up this scene. The simplicity of the composition with the three trees in the foreground still catching the last glow of sunset was just stunning to see in spectacular alpenglow.

I dropped my pack, set up the tripod, and sank it in the snow. There was no time to waste, as I knew alpenglow would not last long. I popped my Canon 5D Mark 3 on the tripod, set it to f/20 in aperture priority, set the white balance to 5800 k and popped off the first exposure at 4-tenths of a second. It was too bright. I dropped exposure compensation and clicked the second image at a 1/4 second. Pow! Nailed that! Put that right in the bank! Burr! It's time to put the camera away, pack up the tripod, and start speed snowshoeing back to camp.

That's the thing with winter photography: you really can't stop and stand around; you just need to keep on moving!