First sunlight on the Maroon Bells at Maroon Lake. Jay on his rock, Jay’s wife, me, and other photographers. Photo © Bob Walker.

In photography, as in real estate, sometimes it is all about “location, location, location”. As the old photographic saying goes: “f/8 and be there.” In the fall that is especially true of mornings at the Maroon Bells. Arrive too late and you will get a less than prime spot and you will have other photographers in your photo instead of a pristine view of just the peaks and Maroon Lake.

My brother-in-law and I arrived around 6 am. We thought we were early, but there were already dozens of photographers lining the shore of Maroon Lake. It was hard to get a nice view without other photographers in the picture.

I set up close to Jay who was on a rock in the lake. It was a great spot with an unobstructed view of Maroon Lake and the Maroon Bells. We chatted with each other as we took pictures and I loaned him my tripod to use for some of his photographs.

Jay on “his” rock.

In the photo at the top of this article you can see Jay on his rock, his wife next to him with one foot on the rock and one foot on shore, and I am in green just to her right.

My camera and tripod set up at Jay’s Rock.

When Jay moved on to a new location he bequeathed his rock to me. So I named my inheritance Jay’s Rock. I set up on the rock and made the most of the unobstructed view.

All morning long photogrpahers came by and complemented my location on the rock. Whenever that happened, I said “This is Jay’s Rock. He bequeathed it to me when he left earlier this morning.” In fact Jay happened to come by later as I was telling someone else about “Jay’s Rock”. That is when his wife pointed out it was her rock before it was his. But it was too late for me to find everyone and rename the rock.

Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake, photographed from “Jay’s Rock”.

There is a moral to this story. At the peak of the morning I counted 108 photographers spread out along Maroon Lake. Many of them had a less than ideal location. If you head for Maroon Lake some beautiful fall morning and you want the classic photographic view, arrive early, no later than 5:30 am.