Going a ways back for this one. This shot was taken on a Saturday morning way back in 2007 when I was just starting to take photography seriously and was shooting with my first SLR, a Canon Rebel XTi. It's proof positive that sometimes all you need to do to get a nice shot is get out. I knew even less than the little I know now about taking pictures, but I did know that it was a beautiful morning and I certainly wouldn't capture it by sitting at home. I hadn't gone far when I come across this scene of the sunrise over the mountains in the background of this horse pasture. I'd already burnt up a good chunk of my memory card just capturing the sunrise when this curious horse came strolling across to see what the fuss was about and stopped in perfect position. It was quite a lucky opportunity and I couldn't have dialed it up any better.

So why is it titled The Pretty Way? Because this view is off an alternate route of oft-driven Highway 9 and on pretty days my wife asks me if we should take "the pretty way." Although the picture was taken before we were married, I think it sums up my thoughts about the picture quite well.

I took my daughter Juliet out for a stroll around Snohomish last October while I was shooting some pictures for National Geographic's Photo Contest 2011 (there are some amazing pics in their gallery, by the way) in hopes to find an interesting shot. I was shooting some standard pictures of the Snohomish River from the Ave D bridge as dusk settled when a little spider in the railing caught my eye. I happened to be studying it at just such an angle that the setting sun was floating in my view right behind and I got to wondering what would happen if I got in real close on the spider and silhouetted it in the setting sun. I didn't have a tripod so shooting this picture with my zoom fully engaged, a baby wrapped up on my belly, and cars whizzing by on a bouncing bridge was a bit of a challenge and didn't leave me with real high expectations of a clear shot. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome when I got back to my studio and saw that I had captured the silhouetted scene you see here. The other one is a shot where the spider isn't highlighted by the sun.