Lake Pflugerville Sunrise

I woke up early this morning with the intention of taking a quick drive down to the lake in town to get some photos of the sunrise over the water. Lake Pflugerville is a man-made lake in town that, if I’m not mistaken, is about three miles in size. The lake also has a pleasant walking trail around it’s shores and several small docks available for fishing and swimming. Along the northeast portion of the lake there is also a public beach, changing room and a rental facility for kayaks, paddle-boats and other items for various aquatic excursions.

This particular morning, I arrived at the lake around 6:15am (about 20 minutes from sunrise) and parked off-road along the western portion of the trail. Gathering up my tripod, camera bag and water bottle, I walked across the damp grass and set up about 50 ft. away from a fishing dock, willow tree and maybe about 20 ft. from the waters edge.

I played around with various lenses and settings but found the best quality to come from my Canon’s 18-55mm kit lens. I did mess around with the wide angle lenses but was not able to capture the depth of field I was looking for, so with time ticking; I went to my aforementioned kit lens.

I managed to get some pretty shots of the backlit clouds and even some of the suns first reflections on the water. A little while later and just moments before the sun rose above the clouds a kayaker crossed into the frame. I hoped to capture the timing of the sunrise and the kayaker in the reflection, but just missed the shot. Looking back, I should’ve hollered out for him to slow down for the shot… but either way, I caught some beautiful images.

I plan on heading down to Austin next Friday and seeing about catching a sunrise with the skyline in the foreground. I always enjoy crossing nature with architecture in photos. Anyhow, enjoy your Friday, stay safe and well!