Out with the old, in with the new

The newspaper I work for launched its redesigned version this week. So for the last edition of the old version of the paper I was asked to come up with an appropriate photo for the front page. Lucky for me, a rancher friend was moving his herd of cattle from their summer pasture to the fall pasture. The cattle drive covers several miles and takes the herd along U.S. 40, and offers a variety of images as several hundred head of cattle make their way down the highway and bring traffic to a crawl. After an hour I still felt like I hadn't captured "the" image--I knew I had photos that would work for the paper, but nothing fitting the final edition of the paper. Then, as the last of the herd was moved off the highway into the pasture, the four cowboys (and girl) who were helping rode between some cottonwood trees, which were still in full autumn color and I then knew I had what I needed.



I then needed to find an image suitable for the front page of the new redesigned paper. Because we were starting a new era in the history of our newspaper, I thought a shot of a sunrise would work. Our editor agreed and I set off each morning on three days to try and capture a suitable sunrise. After trying several locations, I decided on the one which gave me a good view of the mountains and an interesting look at the valley in the foreground. It was the third morning which gave me the best color in the sky as the began to rise from the behind the Continental Divide.



And here are the two front pages...