It was Saturday morning and I was awake around 5:00AM; I hate to sleep late and waste the day. Anyway, I knew the sun would rise at about 6:30AM and it was a little cloudy so I grabbed my backpack and a mug of coffee and headed for the wildlife refuge to see if I could get some good sunrise photos down by the creek.

I got there with seconds to spare as the clouds on the eastern horizon were beginning to gather the faintest bit of color. This time of year the sun rises in the direction of looking down the creek to the east (of course) so I figured that I could work on getting a composition with the steppingstones in the foreground. There happened to be enough water in the creek for some reflections as well. The photo below looks down the creek bed toward sunrise; there is a small waterfall just to the right out of frame.

The steppingstones are in the above photo but they run from side-to-side. I also tried for a more obvious leading line composition with the steppingstones, which put the quickly fading sunrise to the left. Not sure which one works better, but I kind of prefer the first one. What do you think? By the way, the little structure on the right side of the frame is a bat house.

Figuring that the sun would rise and there would be a lot of golden hour light on the grasses and wildflowers atop the ridge, I gathered my gear and hiked up the trail you see in the above photo. The trail climbs to the top of the ridge in the distance, where there is a loop around the long grasses and wildflowers (this time of year). I came across a scene that I had photographed years ago of a trail running into the trees with wildflowers everywhere. I set up my camera and tripod, and sipped coffee while waiting for the sun to find a gap in the clouds. Eventually I got a few seconds of sunlight and shot some photos.

The above photo was difficult for me to edit for some reason. All the wildflowers add a lot of yellow to the scene which is difficult to balance with the bright green of the grass. I struggled with finding enough contrast without making the image appear to harsh. I hope I did OK.

Landscape photos taken, I switched to the long lens and hoped to shoot some of the birds I could hear singing in every direction. I patiently waited for a Summer Tanager to get into a better position with respect to the light and tree branches, but it flew away. I eventually turned my attention to the wildflowers as they were less likely to run away. Below is a gallery of a few of the wildflowers that are blooming all over the wildlife refuge at the moment. I know the purple flower is called Horsemint, and the circular red-orange-yellow flower is a Firewheel I believe. I don’t know what the red bud is called and I think the last photo is the bud of a thistle.

As I made my way back to the parking lot, many people were arriving for their Saturday morning hike amidst the wildflowers, but I was ready to head back home. Maybe being an early riser makes me a bit odd, but I feel like I get more day that way, especially on the weekends. Thanks for reading.