I’ve visited the Dagmar Wildlife Management Area many times over the last seven to eight years. Located about an hour’s drive from my house, it’s an easy trip to a location that is usually relatively quiet and very peaceful. One of my first stops is alway a small pond known as Gator Pond. The pond has an east-west orientation with the boat landing on the west end that makes it a great spot to photograph the sunrise.
My favorite conditions when I’m trying to photograph a sunrise are some light, patchy clouds that will capture the light and color of the sunlight before the sun breaks the horizon. I have to admit, though, that I never seem to get those conditions at Gator Pond. The sky always seems to be either completely clear or heavily overcast; rarely is it somewhere in between. But, I make the most of what I’m given and just enjoy being outdoors.
Going through my photo library the other day, I re-discovered this image from my first foray to Gator Pond. What an adventure that had turned out to be. On my first attempt to find Dagmar, I took a wrong turn and drove around lost for about an hour before finding the road I needed. Of course, by that time, the sun was well up, and the lighting I was hoping to photograph had long vanished. To top it all off, I had to change a flat tire while out in the middle of nowhere. What a day it was. But, not to be deterred, I returned to Dagmar the following day with the plan of photographing the sunrise at Gator Pond
The next morning, I got up at 4:30 and drove back to Dagmar, arriving well ahead of sunrise. But, as the moment approached and the sky grew brighter, I began to see that the sky was far cloudier than I had anticipated. As each minute passed, I began to realize that the odds of my plan coming together were growing slimmer and slimmer. Pacing along the edge of Gator Pond, I cursed the clouds and wondered what to do.
Then, I began to notice the clouds. They weren’t the typical smooth monochrome gray tone they usually are. These clouds had fantastic textures and contained various shades of blue, white, and even pink from the sun rising behind them, and all of this was being reflected in the surface of the water in front of me. I set up my camera and used my 14mm lens to emphasize the open airiness of the lake. After a few minutes, the clouds thinned, and the pink tones from the rising sun intensified. Quickly, I switched to my 24-105mm lens and was able to capture this photograph before the clouds reformed, and the amazing color completely disappeared.