I retired five years ago, and in 2019 my wife and I decided to take our first ever extended, cross country driving trip. We had been to Sedona, Arizona before, but only for one day, and she wanted to go stay for a while. For the first part of our trip, we went there for about 8 days.

As usual, I researched in advance for things to do and places to go for photography. One of those places was called Secret Slickrock, which is near Crescent Moon Park, and also near the house that we rented. Early in our visit, we went to scout the location, which is reached at the end of a short trail. We found that some depressions in the rock plateau there were filled with water, allowing reflections of nearby Cathedral Rock. I thought it would be a good place for sunrise too.

I started going back in the early morning, but generally there were no clouds in the sky to create nice color. I got some shots that I liked, though, as the rocks lit up in an interesting way, and I used a filter to darken the especially bright sky. This was one of my favorite shots, with the curved leading line, reflection, and sunburst.