Sunrises in Sedona are much tougher to photograph than sunsets. Because the red rocks largely rest on the east side of the Verde Valley, the sun does not catch them with the rich, first light of the day, but rather with a stronger light which is less intense than the sunset colors which are routine for this area. On this morning I awoke early to catch the ponds near Red Rock Crossing at sunrise, hoping for still conditions so that the reflections would be 'perfect'. Of course, there weren't any clouds to make the sky interesting, so I had to play around with the foreground to generate the interest for this photo. A bleached piece of wood near one of the ponds did the trick. I waited almost a half hour for the sun to rise, but the moment it did the area instantly lit up as if someone turned on a light bulb - it was really quite striking! I shot this image just as the sunlight reached my position, lighting up the foreground well with much of the background still in shadow. I shot multiple exposures, and combined two which were 2.5 stops apart to create this image.