City Park and Ferril Lake

Author's Comments

The shot everyone comes for is real, and I will not pretend otherwise. From the east shore of Ferril Lake at first light, you get the downtown skyline mirrored in still water with the front range rising behind it, and on a clear morning in October it is the kind of frame that almost composes itself. The peaks catch the alpenglow before the buildings do, which means there is a window of maybe ten minutes when the mountains are pink and the city is still in shadow, and that window is the photograph. I have stood on that shore in every season and they all give you something different. Winter offers the cleanest air and the sharpest definition on the mountains, but the lake freezes and the reflection is gone. Summer brings haze that softens the range to a suggestion. Spring and fall are the honest answer. The water is open, the air is usually clear enough by sunrise, and the cottonwoods around the park edges add a foreground that the postcard versions tend to crop out. Get there before the joggers do. The lake reads as a mirror only when the wind has not yet started, which in Denver usually means before seven. Bring something long enough to compress the skyline against the peaks, because the mountains are farther away than they feel and a wide lens will shrink them. And do not leave once you have made the frame. Walk the path. The light keeps moving, and the park is older and stranger than its reputation suggests.

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