Brave Helios, Wake Up Your Steeds

One of my favorite shots: (Taken near Augusta, MO, in Klondike County Park)

To get this shot, I stood on the banks of the lake that was created by reclaiming land that was once a quarry used for mining silica to make glass in a factory just across the river from the park.  

When I bicycled down the KATY Trail, I would stay at Klondike on both, my trip going down the length of the entire trail, and on my return home.  

I have camped in the park in a tent, and I have also stayed in the wonderful 'little cabins on the hill' - Cabin B is my favorite.  

When I took this picture, I got up well before sunrise on this particular morning.  The lake isn't far from my cabin, so I took my camera and my tripod, and I waited for this shot.  I took several other pictures while I was waiting for this one moment.

In the perceived stillness that is Nature, you can hear the dew dripping off the leaves of the surrounding trees.  A Skink that climbed onto the nearby wooden fence to bask in the morning sun takes time out of his schedule to satisfy his curiosity.  He came over to the last post on the fence to get a better look, and watched me set up this shot.

The air was still, and I waited until the sun had reached the right angle in the sky to create it's reflection in the water, but before it burned off the fog on the lake.

This shot reminds me of a passage from a well known poem.  In Greek mythology, Helios is the Sun God:

Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey, and yellow, white,
but we decide which is right,
and which is an illusion.
Brave Helios, wake up your steeds.
Bring the warmth the countryside needs.

- Michael