By Scott Shephard

When I stepped out onto our lower patio a few days ago, I could see fog hanging on the Sioux River a half mile or so from where I was standing. The sun wasn’t up yet and surprisingly there was no wind. So I thought I should take a few aerial photos.

I rarely fly my drone before or after sunrise but I thought that I might get something worth keeping. The phrase “worth keeping” sounds like something a fisherman might say and I guess my photography is a form of fishing for me.

I took two photos of the misty river (obviously not visible in this view), but I then took a dozen more of our neighborhood and of the progress in the new development to the south of us (visible in the upper center of this photo.)

I don’t know about you, but I like the pastel browns of the winter grass and the hints of green that will soon fill in. You also just barely see the soft colors in the morning sky. Whenever I see that, I think of Homer’s description of pre-dawn light: he calls it “rhododactylos eos,” which is Greek for “rosy fingered dawn.”

Yes, it was the just the beginning of another day. But, as with so many things, I was fortunate to be present and to be a witness.

(And in case you haven’t seen the scene in “Shawshank Redemption” that inspired my title, Red has just been rejected for parole and when asked by his pals at Shawshank, this is what he says. Sorry for the language.)

DJI Mavic 2 Pro 1/60 sec f/2.8 ISO 400 (5 frame HDR processed in Aurora HDR