Lake Watson is kind of a hidden gem located on the outskirts of Prescott, Arizona. Having lived in Arizona for a while, I was aware of its unique beauty, roughly confined to the 70 acres of Watson Lake extending to the Willow Creek Reservoir. The stunning geological formations, called granite dells, were formed over 1.4 billion years ago and expose bedrock and boulders. The unique rounded appearance of the boulders is the result of spheroidal weathering, i.e., water seeping into cracks in the granite, causing chemical weathering that ultimately produces the rounded boulders. Watson Lake was formed in 1915 by the damming of Granite Creek.
That January, my youngest brother was living in Prescott, Arizona and informed me that he was going to have knee replacement surgery and wondered if I could fly down and help him get around after his procedure. Why not!
For those who have not visited Prescott, it is rich in the history of the early SW, once the capital of the Arizona Territory, a frontier town for gold and silver mining, and known for its bars and a stereotypical Wild West atmosphere due to the residence of Doc Holliday and Virgil Earp. Since my brother was living in a small rental, I took up residence in town, not too far away.
Having the early mornings free, after scouting Lake Watson, I took to setting up on a nice overlook of the Lake and its boulders, only about 300 ft from where I parked my rental. On this particular morning, I was blessed with a wonderful Arizona sunrise. With my camera pointed to the NW, I was able to capture the morning glow on my right with my favorite Sony body, the A7r3, and its nice, large pixels. Using the widest setting on my Sony 24-105 lens, I captured the morning glow in the sky and its illumination on the rounded boulders of the dells.
