Don't you love it when something you envision happens exactly the way you want it to? 

It's rare which makes it so special as a photographer.

I've driven lots and lots of miles in my home state of South Dakota.  We head out to Pierre to see family, and all the way there, I pretty much have the scenery and landscape memorized.  Each time we drive past these rolling hills, I knew it was only a matter of time before I came back at the right moment to catch my vision.  I thought, "if the sun could be right there, that'd be perfect."

When the sun starts to descend and the light gets soft, that's when landscape photographers like me get really fidgety.  It can be a curse. It's really hard to hide it, too, I must confess.  My family knows when I start looking around and staring at the sky that my mind is starting to wander.

That's precisely what happened on July 17th, 2014.  I left ice cream early (this never, ever, ever happens) because I could see the haze in the sky had the potential to lead to a magical sunset.

I jumped in the car and off I went to the spot, several miles outside of town.  With years of studying sunsets, I feel more and more confident about what will happen. 

Like a weather man gets a sixth sense about the rain, a photographer gets a sixth sense about sunsets.

When I arrived, I smiled big, because I had plenty of time to find the perfect spot and I knew there was just the right amount of atmosphere to block the harshness of the light, revealing a beautiful huge glowing orb, just above the rolling hills.