By Scott Shephard

I left our cabin in the Black Hills a little before 5 am the morning I made this photo. I drove east to Hermosa and kept going on SD highway 40. Eventually, I turned off on a little used gravel road and when I parked and stepped out of my pickup, I was embraced by the warm summer morning. There was no wind and the only sound was the light ticking of my truck's cooling engine. In one view I could see the continuing line of the road i had traveled on to get to this spot and I could see the sinuous path of the Cheyenne River. Off in the distance lay the Badlands and overhead was a beautiful South Dakota sky.

I like this picture, but here's a confession: these days my photography is rarely about taking and making and even sharing photos. It is much more about being lost in the process and, in the case of a photo like this, of being enveloped by the place. The more mature I become, the more I realize that my photography is a very personal form of meditation and prayer. I offer this photo to you hoping you find meaning, but more importantly, I offer this photo to a force or spirit or being much greater than all of us.

Phantom 4 Pro FC6310 1/240s f/5.6 ISO100 8.8mm (35mm eq:24mm) (5 frame composite)