Burke Ruder Photographs

Gallery II

First Light

Lake Conroe, Texas · 11 October 2026 · 25 photographs

We left Seven Coves Marina before the sun was up, on Captain Scott Yeates's boat, and came back with a table covered in catfish.

In between: the lighthouse going pink, then orange; the long quiet stretches where nobody says much; and the faces of men who have told these stories before and will tell them again.

First Light, plate II.01. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.0180mm · f/4 · 1/80s · ISO 320

First Light, plate II.02. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.02105mm · f/4 · 1/800s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.03. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.03105mm · f/4 · 1/160s · ISO 250

First Light, plate II.04. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.04105mm · f/4 · 1/160s · ISO 800

First Light, plate II.05. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.0556mm · f/4 · 1/320s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.06. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.0672mm · f/4 · 1/250s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.07. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.07105mm · f/4 · 1/400s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.08. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.0824mm · f/4 · 1/640s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.09. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.0924mm · f/4 · 1/2000s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.10. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1067mm · f/4 · 1/1250s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.11. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1156mm · f/4 · 1/2500s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.12. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1294mm · f/4 · 1/1000s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.13. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1367mm · f/4 · 1/400s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.14. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1431mm · f/4 · 1/500s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.15. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1539mm · f/4 · 1/400s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.16. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1692mm · f/4 · 1/400s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.17. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1770mm · f/4 · 1/800s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.18. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1845mm · f/4 · 1/1600s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.19. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.1988mm · f/4 · 1/4000s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.20. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.2070mm · f/4 · 1/4000s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.21. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.2124mm · f/4 · 1/4000s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.22. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.2232mm · f/4 · 1/100s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.23. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.2324mm · f/4 · 1/125s · ISO 200

First Light, plate II.24. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.24105mm · f/4 · 1/125s · ISO 250

First Light, plate II.25. Lake Conroe, Texas. — II.25105mm · f/4 · 1/800s · ISO 200