Our Place in the Universe

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been inspired by the mountains and decided to move to Colorado in March 2022, in part to find more subjects for my photography. Less than a year later, in February 2023, I ventured to Chasm Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The park had received several feet of snow over the past few weeks, burying the trail leading to the lake. I battled thigh-deep snow to carve a path along a steep traverse, then scaled icy cliffs to make my way to Chasm Lake. Exhausted, I sat in the snow in silence. It was there, on the shores of this frozen lake, awed by the majesty of Longs Peak towering above me, that I began to contemplate my place in the Universe, and how, just as grains of pollen on the wind and planets through the cosmos, I had moved through my life, seemingly randomly at times, but always toward some ultimate purpose.

I took out my tripod and stepped out onto the ice. I photographed myself at 24mm with my iPhone 14 Pro Max, because that was the range of my Bluetooth remote. Then I took another shot at 48mm, planning to composite the two images in ON1 Photo RAW.