I awoke the other morning and the scene outside my bedroom window was of the snow covered room of the rear entrance to our basement and a barren winter sky. I was struck by the wintry yet simple scene. However, from my bedroom I couldn’t get the width I wanted without adding clutter to the edges of the frame.

Day 1 - clean and simple winter horizon, employing the rule of thirds.

Simple, simple, simple. Some say never put the horizon in the middle. Okay.

I frequently walk in the early morning and winter mornings are my favorites. This particular morning I couldn’t stop looking for the image that first captured my interest earlier in the morning. I’d think I’d found it only to quickly discover some problem, corn stalks that littered the foreground, sumac intruding on edges, contrails x-ing my views of the sky.

Day 2 - not so simple, yet somehow a gentle winter sky

A warmer winter horizon with the assist of a white balance change

Eventually my eyes settled on an eastern view that offered the clean simplicity I was looking for.

One day later, the sky had changed with the addition of a few light clouds and brighter highlights.  I shot for a few minutes before deciding to change the white balance from “daylight” to “cloud”. I cannot figure which morning was more satisfying.