The last evening light strikes towering peaks near the Iceberg Lake area, also known as “Ice Lake” by the Blackfeet Nation of Montana. This is an image taken a few years ago that I decided to recently reprocess, as it is one of my favorite places that I've ever encountered. The title here pretty much says everything about this area. It is truly a paradise and almost doesn't seem real when you are there...almost like something out of a fairy tale. Thankfully the conditions that evening were promising as well and some clouds rolled in as sunset approached, topping off everything perfectly. Also, thankfully I was traveling with a small group of people and felt a bit less uneasy about hiking back the 4.8 miles in the dark in grizzly country. We of course were the only hikers out there that late and it's not exactly recommended in that area, but was certainly worth it. As a side note, I have been absent from 500px lately and decided to take a bit of a step back from social media in general for the past month or so. I made the decision to do some other things in the little free time that I do have such as going for 3 mile hikes/walks every day and processing some images from my backlog. I recently had a thoughtful conversation with a few other photographer friends and mentioned that It has actually been quite a revelation and a reminder to myself about why I became so passionate about photography in the first place. I wasn't aware at all six years ago about the social scene or social media networking with regards to photography. I just did it because it made me happy to be out there in nature, and because I wanted to hopefully show others my view of what beauty is left in the remaining wild places that so many take for granted. It has really made me realize the value of focusing more on what matters most and not losing sight of that. More importantly, it has reinforced to me that at the end of the day, it isn't what people think of you that matters, it's what you think of yourself. Now when I take my walks every day I make a mental note to not forget that because I truly feel that for some (not all of course) social pressure can start to somewhat take away from who you are both as a person and as an artist. Sometimes it just feels good to retrace your own roots and connect with yourself on a much more personal level. Obviously I cannot speak for everyone, but for me at least, that is definitely the case. Anyhow, sorry for my rambling on here and thank you for taking a look. :) Follow me on Facebook Prints available on my website: www.candacebartlettphotography.com
