The sun was rising as I pulled into Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge early yesterday morning. My view to the east was obstructed, but I did manage to capture this image of the fiery sun through the trees.
It was a fun challenge trying to choose settings for the camera that let me capture both the sun and the shapes of some of the individual trees. In some of my images, the trees became one dark indistinct mass, so I kept making adjustments as quickly as I could, because the sun seemed to be moving amazingly fast.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful, Mike. One thing about winter’s shorter days, is the opportunity to see some beautiful sights like this.
Indeed. Ironically, Dan, the fact that the days are getting longer is proving to be a slight problem. The gates of this wildlife refuge open electronically at 7:00 a.m. If I am a little late, as I was on the day I took these shots, I am too late for the sunrise (which was at 7:13 today). By the end of the month, the sun will rise at 6:42, well before the time that I can get in the refuge.
My park opens at sunrise but usually isn’t locked.
WOW!!!!! LOVE this photo!!! BEAUTIFUL!!
Gorgeous, it looks like a ball of fire rising from the dark! Thank-you for sharing this spectacle caught by your talented eye!
Nice Mike! Fun to see a “warm” image on a cold day!!
Very striking!
It is amazing how you can tell the sun is moving when you are working on shots like this–in other contexts its movement is imperceptible. This is gorgeous with the limbs crossed in front of the orange orb!
I could especially tell the sun was moving when I reviewed my shots and saw how quickly the shape of the sun changed from a hemisphere to a complete sphere.
Looks like Mars has come to us instead of the other way around. Stunning shot Mike.
Thanks. I loved the look of the sun when it was just a hemisphere on the horizon and was a little frustrated when I couldn’t get a clear shot. I was particularly struck by the red color, which presumably is what made you think of Mars.
It was the color that brought Mars to mind along with an old tale my grandmother used to tell us of a big ball of fire that fell from the sky and came rolling down the village lane late one summer evening. Now I wonder if it was the very first car to drive through the village and, seen from the distance, the headlights looked like a rolling ball of fire. I think the shot you got is terrifically mysterious.