On the way to work the other day, I noticed a glow in my rearview mirror as I headed towards Bigfork. The sun was beginning to rise, and the combination of clouds, mountains and snowscape provided an opportunity too good to pass up. I got out my compact tripod, set it up on the roof of my truck, and took nearly 100 pictures over a 30-minute-span as the day broke.

Almost as enjoyable as watching the sunrise was the reaction of the local residents along this quiet stretch of road. A summertime tourist taking pictures of a sunset is a common sight; but a guy standing in the back of a pickup wearing a Carhartt jacket, braving temperatures in the low-20's to take tourist-y pictures in the middle of winter .... it's enough to make people do a double-take. I was looked at a little funny by a farmer driving a road grader, pushing the snow-berms back. A mom taking her kids to school looked at me like I was nuts. A few people actually drove by and didn't even notice. On the other hand, three people I knew slowed down and marveled at the sight with me (two of them said, "You should've seen it yesterday morning!"); and two other people invited me to help myself onto their property for a tad better angle of the valley.

I picked four of the better ones, and they follow in sequential order as the sunrise progressed...