Murrell Park

Three straight days of rain had me a little itchy to get outside. Fortunately the clouds not only broke today, but temperatures were nice and warm. With Murrell Park on the shore of Lake Grapevine just a five-minute drive from our house, that was the obvious candidate to try and catch a sunrise.

The Photographer's Ephemeris allowed me to scout a location in the park that would have a good view of the setting sun over the water.  Once there, I started experimenting with different foregrounds.

Remembering to look around gave me the opportunity to notice how the golden hour was lighting up the cliff side.

I settled in at a location that gave me some interesting trees and a relatively clear horizon, and took in the magic.

I like all the berries I see down here.  Berries mean birds, which I haven't been fortunate enough to capture yet but definitely see flying around and eating.  I'll get some eventually.

I spotted another photographer when I arrived who had the same idea that I did.  We exchanged pleasantries, then I spotted him out on the far side of the little inlet where I'd set up shop.  Including him in one of the shots provides a nice sense of scale.

All too soon, the sun had dipped below the horizon and left just a warm glow.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a nearly full moon as I returned to my car.  As I worked to frame it in some tree branches, a plane landing at DFW came through and I managed to get it in a shot.

And here's one for the purists who'd rather not have a plane in their moon photos. :)

I was gone and back in just an hour, which was just about the best part.  To know that this sort of natural beauty is so close to where I now live is really, really gratifying -- especially after all the options I had in Colorado!