Frustrated, very frustrated. Over the past few weeks I have gone to the same location thirty minutes before sunrise. I parked my car, walked a quarter mile in muck and melting snow, set up my camera and tripod. Waited shivering in the freezing cold. Waited with my hands in my pockets. Waited being thankful I had remembered to put on two long sleeved shirts beneath my jacket. Waited for my eyes to slowly adjust to the dim glow that was emerging from the sky. Waited for dark clouds to creep passed above me.
Every time I have gone to this location (which I think will one day make a beautiful picture) I have gotten skunked. By that I don’t mean that I got sprayed by an actual skunk, but that the elements that I need to coincide in nature to create a sunrise that is pleasing to me, just never happened. One time the clouds never let the sun peek through. Another time the wind was so bad even with the tripod the camera was shaking. I even turned back to keep from getting shot by a hunter that was stalking ducks in the predawn hours.
This morning I arrived at this location checking the sky, meteorological maps on my phone, sunrise charts, and weather forecasts. Again I was skunked. A little discouraged, and resigned to accept the fact that another sunrise would occur without any pretty pictures from me, I drove off. Ten minutes later I found a new perspective on this daily event that I thought had eluded me yet again. I pulled off the road, climbed a two story mound of dirt in a frozen corn field and was rewarded with this photograph. Please enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.