source of light

I woke up before sunrise to drive up through Ebbetts Pass to see if I could catch a decent sunrise on my Birthday. This day, I turned 40 years old. I spent the night in a buddy's cabin, also a photographer, and got some great shots the evening before because of a passing storm. I truly believe that Ebbetts Pass is a local Yosemite Tunnel in terms of sheer beauty. Once we got to our location though it became increasingly apparent that we were not going to get any clouds. They had all vanished overnight. We stayed out anyway and as the sun rose up over the valley I caught some of the light hitting the mountains. I put my 300mm lens on and ditched my wide angles for the day and snapped this shot. Sometimes great landscapes shots do not need a wide angle lens.