Hello Reader !

Mother Nature didn't get my memo.

4 weeks prior I had planned out this location for a perfect sunrise.

I sent her an email.

It must have gone to Spam.

Because this particular morning was anything but perfect.

It was cloudy.

Not the angry, moody clouds I had battled previously on this 2 week epic road trip.

No, these were more on the overcast... boring... soul-crushing cloud coverage.

Anyhoo… the day before… I arrived at the predestined site: the Temple of the Sun.

Pretty dramatic name… am I right?

Which was screaming for a sunrise!

So, before the big sunrise event, I headed out on foot scouting different possibilities.

Although I had already done that with my research + Google Earth…

...it was time to put boots on the ground, wander, breathe in the fresh desert air and see it with my own eyes.

With my Nikon z8 + 20mm in hand I dialed in my settings: f/11, 1/250 + ISO 100.

Framed and clicked…

The perfect composition!

But the light was all wrong.

It was noon-thirty after all.

The Temple of the Sun was made for Golden hour!

But I had 18 more hours to go before the big reveal.

So I wandered some more.

Nothing worth sharing until six hours later… sunset.

At that time, I found myself on the opposite side of the Temple.

Good 'ole framing technique…

Good but not great.

A little more sky and a different vantage point…

Good but not great.

That was pretty much it.

Time to call it a night and wait for sunrise.

———

Which brings us back to that dreadful morning.

I awoke full of anticipation.

Until I ripped off the window covers I velcroed to the entire car… and saw the impending clouds for the first time.

Bummer.

But I was hopeful.

Hopeful the clouds would vanish in a heartbeat.

Or at least crack open enough for some rays of light to explode through.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Neither was creating anything from that dull, dreary moment.

The kind of light that couldn't do justice to the star of my image: the Temple of the Sun.

And wouldn't you know it… about an hour later the clouds had dispersed as though they were summoned by the photography gods themselves.

Yet, golden hour still clung to the landscape like a moth to a flame.

And my opportunity revealed itself in all its glory…

Good photo. But not great.

There are two things missing from this photo: one, the sky is boring.

I'd rather have some dramatic clouds ablaze with a spectrum of golden colors from the rising sun.

The other would add pure magic to the image… the moon rising above the Temple of the Moon!

Someday.

Someday I'll be back and will spend days... weeks... to fulfill my creative vision… whatever it takes.

Because that is the thing about landscape photography.

You never really know when everything will finally come together.

But when it does… it makes every failed sunrise worth it.

​
Have an awesome day!

Chris Parker

Parker Photographic

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