It’s early in the morning and it seems like it is going to be a dark and dreary day. Not the kind of day to rouse myself from sleep, get out of bed, and go out to photograph a great sunrise scene. I am in Washington State’s Methow Valley on the hunt for great fall color.

I keep looking out the window of my room as the sky starts getting lighter. I then notice a slight break in the cloud cover to the east, and a glimpse of some golden light. So I quickly put on some clothes, strap on my pack, and head out hoping for the best.

My goal is to photograph Patterson Lake in the morning light. I find a spot to set up my gear a short distance down the road. The best light seems to be to my left, in the southeast sky. But there is still enough good light to go around and it is now a good time for some photography. As the time passes I notice that the sky in front of me is starting to develop some orange hues. The lake below is placid as there is absolutely no wind. The trees surrounding the lake are clearly reflected in the surface of the still water.

The whole scene is now bathed in an orange glow. I decide to bracket my exposures in order to combine them in post processing and create a series of high definition images of the lake and the surrounding land. I decide that this was the best of the bunch from that morning.