Horsetooth Reservoir

Author's Comments

The reservoir runs north to south for six and a half miles, pressed against the hogback like water held in a cupped hand, and the geography itself does most of the compositional work. You do not have to hunt for the photograph here. You have to wait for the light to find it. I prefer Satanka Bay on the west side in late September, an hour before sunset. The foothills are close enough on that shore that they read as form rather than backdrop, and when the sun drops behind the ridge, the water picks up the last warm light from above while the foreground falls into cool shadow. That contrast is the photograph. The reservoir surface, on a still evening, holds the foothills in reflection so cleanly that the horizon line becomes a question rather than a fact. Mornings work too, but differently. Dawn here is quieter and pinker, the light coming over your shoulder from the plains and washing the hogback in a color that lasts maybe fifteen minutes. I have driven up before sunrise and found the water like glass and not another car in the lot. That does not happen on summer weekends. Come on a Tuesday in May, or any weekday in October, and you will mostly have it. Bring a wide lens for the full sweep of ridge and water, but do not leave the longer glass in the car. The dams themselves, seen in raking light, become their own subject - geometric and strange against the organic shape of the foothills. A Larimer County parks pass is required for vehicle access, and worth it. This is a place you will return to.

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