Shot in the Dark

It was close to midnight by the time I got to Tre Cime di Lavaredo. I didn't plan on getting here so late - I wanted to be here around 7:00, but a quick nap turned into a long one due to some jet lag.

Figuring I didn't want to waste any more time I hopped in the car and took off. Since I didn't get a chance to scout out any compositions I wanted to go with what I knew: Tre Cime from the narrow end where the peaks appear to resemble a castle tower rising in the sky. But after 30 minutes of waking I felt pretty sure I was going the wrong way. I couldn't tell for sure though, since it was so dark due to the cloud cover. After coming to the top of a ridge I decided that the smart thing to do would be to set up my camera to take a long exposure and figure out if I needed to keep pushing on or turn back.

I like this picture for two reasons. 1. Because I haven't seen many (if any) photos of Tre Cime from this direction and 2. Because of how the ridge line leads the viewer's eye from the bottom of the frame towards the tallest peak in the top left third of the photo. I wish I could tell you that I planned the shot this way, but I can't. I literally fired this shot blind trying to figure out where in the world I was. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
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