Ennis Bluebonnets 2017: Sunrise

My bluebonnet road trip to the Texas Hill Country in late March was rewarding. But there was nothing that said it had to be my only road trip to shoot bluebonnets this year. So a couple of Saturdays later, I woke up early and headed down to Ennis for the third year in a row to see what that area had to offer.

My sunrise spots the past two years had been northeast of town.  This time I wanted to try something new, so I decided to visit Mach Road for the first time.  I spotted a couple of other photographers along the side of the road just in time, as the sky was rapidly filling with color.  When in doubt, trust the instincts of others!

There weren't exactly a lot of bluebonnets at the spot.  In fact, I had to get creative with my composition to even get some in the shot.  But the show in the sky was more than making up for the lack of color on the ground.

Shift position slightly, switch from portrait to landscape, make sure you've got some bluebonnets in the composition, start shooting again before you lose the color.

I would have liked to get down to that pond and get a nice, big reflection of the vivid sky.  But it was private property, and I didn't think knocking on the door of the nearby house before 7 a.m. to ask permission would have been a great idea.

Once the sun had just peeked over the horizon, I figured I'd gotten as much as I was going to get out of this spot and decided to pack up and look for another.  I'd come for bluebonnets, and bluebonnets I would get!