You can drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway and fill your SD card with epic views. Then, drive back down it, and you'll fill up another card with entirely different, dramatic photos from the same spots because of its constantly-changing conditions.

No need for an SUV. Bring a light car and experience the fastest 35mph you'll ever have in your life. It'll keep the smile up a little longer as you scout for an angle, constantly looking out your windows to see an ocean of clouds beneath you. You finally find a spot to park. Set up the camera...and the clouds are gone. Oh well. On to the next one.

A mile up, and you find the right view. The right light. The right conditions. Perfect....and now you're inside a cloud. Oh well. On to the next one.

You get the idea. It's just as easy to find yourself just missing THE shot, the stuff of legends, as it is getting one.

This photo came from such a journey. Flying through the parkway at 35mph, hoping to find the angle, light, and conditions for a sunrise shot, I found this reservoir in the valley with a sea of clouds behind it. They were staying as still as the moment. You'd swear time stopped if it wasn't for the towhees singing their good morning song down the cliff in front of your toes.

I take the shot. A sigh of relief. Zen. On to the next one.

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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor

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