It is difficult to find Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park totally calm. At an elevation of 9450 feet there is almost always a breeze. Although not perfect, this September, 2009 morning afforded very good reflective conditions for some exquisite autumn aspen colors. The reddish-brown hue of the pines enhanced the photo but the sad truth is they were likely victims of the Mountain Pine Beetle and dying.

As with the vast majority of my landscape images I used a circular polarizing filter on the front of my lens. In this case it allowed visualization of rocks and decaying limbs under the clear water in the foreground and to the right of the picture.