Here we were all of only 10 minutes away from downtown Steamboat Springs, Colorado on the banks of the Elk River as the spring runoff swells the river’s flow. Viewing this Narrowleaf Cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) with the view of the Park Range in the background, I wanted to use the strong backlight from the early morning sun to add what I felt was almost a halo to the tree to set it off from everything else in the scene. I also really enjoyed the high cirrus clouds in the bright blue morning sky and thought they were a nice complimentary contrast to the remaining elements.
