9/29/11 – Featured in the ONE TREE AT A TIME Group.
10/3/11 – Featured in the ADDICTED TO PHOTOGRAPHY Group.
3/31/12 – Featured in the MONTANA Group.

This is my first sunrise photo, finally! I have been getting up early over the past few years, hoping to catch a glorious sunrise, only to see the most boring and colorless skies. I announced to my family last month that western Montana must not have colorful sunrises because the sky is so clear. It took a visit to south central Montana and the smoke from the complex of fires along the Idaho/Montana border to finally fulfill my sunrise dream.

What really made this moment special was the herd of deer that were grazing near this tree, not far from where we had laid out or sleeping bags. Unfortunately, the tree was the only thing I was able to capture with my camera. I ended up with several photos of blurry blobs that only I could recognize as deer.

This was taken at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park (near Whitehall, Montana, USA), looking east from the Continental Divide. We got into the campground so late that we decided to forego setting up the tent and slept on the bare ground, so I had no problem awakening in time for the sunrise.

Photo taken September 3, 2011 with a Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS camera. Contrast and levels adjustments were made in Photoshop CS.
ExposureTime – 1/8 seconds
FNumber – 3.20
ISOSpeedRatings – 64
LightSource – Daylight
Flash – Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength – 17.60 mm
SceneCaptureType – Standard