Over the years, I've learned that remarkable sunrises happen more rarely than sunsets. But I planned to be at one of the premiere sunrise destinations in the Badlands a half hour before the sun rose that day.

We arrived at this overlook and was not surprised by the other half dozen vehicles already in the lot. A group was gathered high atop the overlook platform and as I approached, I quickly learned that this was a photo workshop outing. The group was very welcoming and made funny comments about how I'd have to chip in to pay my share for the instruction that would follow. Really a very nice group of people.

I set up down a hill, as I could see where the first rays of sun were starting to cast a glow on the badlands facing southeast. I made a number of very satisfying images that morning. The clouds gathered in fascinating patterns that changed appearance each minute. I kept the shooting simple, the only filtration used was a 2-stop soft graduated neutral density filter to balance sky values with the foreground as I wanted the emphasis to be on the eroded hills.

There's nothing like planning for success and then having everything conspire for you to have that happen. What a great memory.

Canon EOS 5D, Tamron 28-105 f/2.8, SP Aspherical LD @ 28mm, 1/250 sec @f/7.1, ISO equiv 200, Lee 0.6 Soft Graduated ND, Lee Filter Holder, Calumet 8000 Carbon Fiber Tripod, Gitzo G1276 Ballhead