The evening at the lake when I shot this photo, I learned a valuable lesson. The darkness gathered as the storm blocked out any hope of getting a shot with some sunset color. My tripod set up, camera mounted at the ready, I waited for 45 minutes,...nothing but light fading into the night. I had given up, took my camera off the tripod, and was beginning to collapse the legs to carry it all back to the truck. Then, a glimmer of crimson tinted the peak of the mountain. The color expanded in less than a few seconds to set the mountain on fire. Excitedly rushing back to the shoreline, I put up the tripod, locked the camera in and adjusted the filter, even as the color began to fade. One frame was all I got, a 1-minute exposure, then...it was gone.

Patience. Never give up.