Dawn's Early Rays

I have been an admirer of Jay Maisel's photography for decades. I studied under him for a week in the late 80's at the Anderson Ranch in Colorado. He had a photo of a bank of trees with rays of light coming through that I wanted to emulate. Several years back I had the chance.

I got up well before sunrise and drove with other photographers to a ranch in Florida. The owner of the property met us with an old yellow school bus with the window panes removed. We drove along on dusty roads on his huge ranch, and suddenly came upon this scene. What a sight! We quickly tumbled out of the bus eager to photograph the sun's rays flaring from the Palm trees before the light vanished.. The dewy mist hovering above the ground helped set the mood. I'm sure Maisel would have appreciated this scene!