Sometimes good photos really do come from being in the right place at the right time.  It’s a horrible cliche, but not inaccurate.

Sunrise rainbow over loess hills prairie at The Nature Conservancy's Broken Kettle Grasslands in Iowa.

I was visiting The Nature Conservancy’s Broken Kettle Preserve in the fall of 2008, photographing the reintroduction of bison to that prairie.  The night after the bison were unloaded from a big semi-trailer from South Dakota I camped out nearby so I could get up and photograph them the next morning.  When my alarm woke me before sunrise, however, the skies were cloudy and it was cold and drizzling – not the conditions I was hoping to see for my photography.  I very nearly rolled over to go back to sleep, but told myself I’d come a long way and might as well get a good walk in. 

I got up and drove the short distance back to the hills above the corral where the new bison were being temporarily housed.  I hiked up into the hills, still wondering why I was out in the drizzle and cold, when the rising sun suddenly broke through a small break in the clouds and lit up a beautiful double rainbow over the loess hills.  It was a stunning sight that lasted just long enough for me to wrestle my camera out of the bag, sprint to the top of the nearest hill, and squeeze off a few hurried shots.