SKUNKED

Canon EOS Rebel XS, Promaster 19-35 lens @ 19mm, ISO 100, f/13, 3 Exposure HDR @ -2 EV

  Tuesday morning started out extremely frustrating.
  It was a beautiful morning with the golden sun striking the clouds against a gorgeous blue sky. After dropping off my kids at school, I worked my way to work as quickly as I could to try and possibly get a shot of the wonderful color display.
  When I pulled into the drive I was behind 2 cars of vendors visiting and they were driving very slow up the guard shack. After I finally pulled around those 2, I scanned through the gate and proceeded in. I then followed another co-worker who was driving quite pedestrian-like (at least it seemed that way with me in a hurry). The lake test tractor then pulled in front of him towing a boat out to lake test. I was beginning to think that I would never get in and get a chance to shoot this sunrise.
  After the tractor and co-worker cleared, I quickly pulled into a parking spot near the boat docks and immediately started getting gear together. Then I was having trouble finding my quick connect for my tripod in my bag. All the while, the lake tester was giving me grief about getting up late and telling me I was going to miss it. UGGGGGGHHHH!
  After finding everything and running down to the lake's edge, I finally found a composition that I really liked even though the sun had already peaked over the mountains in the background. I decided I could still get a beautiful shot with a big sunburst and some lens flare against the still pretty blue sky and clouds.
  That's when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye to the right of the dock.  When I looked over there, it was a skunk.  REALLY! A SKUNK? I immediately grabbed up my gear and ran back about 20 feet to give this little guy plenty of room.  He then seemed to disappear. I elected to set up back where I had ended up and took a a couple of frames when I noticed my little friend coming out from under the dock on the left hand side and then scamper off into the open field next to the facility. Whew!
  I then moved back to my original position and started firing off some brackets knowing that I would not be able to expose the shot in a single image.
  Very happy with the composition, I texted my HDR guru brother, Jim Denham, and asked him if he would mind processing some brackets for me. He accepted and late last night I put them in our drop box for him.
  At 7:00am this morning Jim texted me back and had the results back in the drop box. As usual, Jim's processing equals the image I had in mind and I was extremely happy with the results