Best Intentions...

Sometimes good ideas just don't pan out.  We're currently on vacation in Breckenridge and stopped in Frisco for some essentials.  We drove by Dillon lake and I decided I wanted to get a picture.  I loved how the mountains and the sky looked and the lake was partially frozen so I was hoping I might be able to capture something special.

We parked by the marina and my wife and daughter wisely stayed in the car while I made my way out to the "right spot" to take pictures.  There was some clutter all around the pier so I decided to venture out a bit onto what looked like snow and dirt where the waters of the lake had receded.  Wearing my trusty Gortex laced Merrills, I started out over patches of snow, ice and dirt.  Unfortunately those patches of snow were really very thin layers resting on top of about a foot or so of Rockie Mountain mud.  Ok, so perhaps this wasn't one of those "times that try men's souls" but I wasn't about to be denied a great picture because of ankle deep mud.

After hopping, skipping and jumping to a dry spot I finally got to my perfect destination.  I quickly got off some shots from a couple different angles.  I tried getting several multiple low angel shots, at different exposures so I could practice with my HDR.  I didn't want to spend too much time there because I figured the women folk would be getting antsy.  Confident I got what I wanted, I headed back to the car, scraping and dragging my feet through fresh snow in an attempt to remove all the mud.

Well, long story short (I know, too late), we got back to the room and I immediately began processing my pics.  To my dismay I failed to ensure that I had taken multiple pictures, not just at different exposures but also at different focus points.  All the low angle shots had out of focus foregrounds.  So for all that effort and perseverance, I was only able to manage the pano you see above.  I don't think it's entirely a bad picture but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.

So I guess we just need to make the best of a situation.  And even though we try to overcome obstacles in life, things may not always turn out as we had hoped.  Even the greatest ball players strike out from time to time.  That's no reason to quit.  There's always next time.  :-)