This photo is actually several weeks old – taken at the Niobrara Valley Preserve right after the big wildfires had blown through.  On this particular evening, I was crossing a bridge over the river and saw a photographer working to capture the evening light coming through the spray of a waterfall.  I had just enough time to squeeze off a couple shots of him before he started packing up his tripod to leave. 

A photographer catching the evening light through the waterfall just upstream of the Norden Bridge – The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve.  Click on the photo to see a larger, sharper version.

When I took this picture, I was covered in soot from working all day in recently-burned areas.  The photographer, the beautiful light, and the clean water passing over the falls were all in stark and welcome contrast to most of the surrounding landscape, which consisted largely of scorched earth and trees.  The scene was like a small peephole into what the larger landscape had been like just a few days earlier. 

I’ve delayed posting this photo because I wasn’t sure whether I liked it because of my emotions at the time or because it was really a quality photo.  To be honest, I’m still not sure, but it’s time to post it anyway.  I hope you enjoy it.