Some mornings the lake gives you the photograph before the first cast. This was sunrise on Lake Austin in late August, the sun just clearing the hills through a band of fog lying flat on the water, everything doubled in the glass-calm surface.
That fog is a late-summer signature here: the water holds its warmth overnight while the first cooler mornings of the season slide over it, and the mist rises until the sun burns it off. For an hour or so the whole lake goes soft and gold, and every dock and treeline floats on nothing.
I had clients aboard and the bass chewing that morning - this view was the office while it happened. Mornings like this are half the reason to be on the water at first light, whether you are holding a camera or a rod.
© 2026 Bryan Cotter Photography privacy policy terms of use site by cotter designs