The sun was above my right shoulder as I shot this. As I moved slightly to get a better angle, I heard something on the river bank below, turned and saw this.
You'd think with all the herons that I've startled in the past two years that I would have thought to look for them, as I yearn to get a good photo of one up close, but no.
So I headed back up West Virginia Route 2. A few miles below Point Pleasant, I caught up with a northbound CSX train. Based on its speed and the position of the late afternoon sun, I figured that if I hurried, I might get a shot of it crossing the bridge over the Kanawha River. I got there in time, but just barely. As I got out of the car, I heard the rumble of the train on the trestle. There was no time to set up in a good spot, so I chose the closest one available and hoped for the best.
Now that I look it again, I might get a decent picture by cropping that tree from the bottom. But still it wouldn't be the one I wanted.
Anyway, as I started back to the car, I realized there might be a shot of the train on the trestle on the other side of the Kanawha. I hurried back to my shooting spot, but got there one or two seconds too late to get the photo I wanted. So I got this one.
On the drive home, I saw a nice sunset over the water of the Green Bottom swamp, er, Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area. By the time I had turned around and found a place to shoot from, the sun had already set enough to where the shot I wanted was gone and again I had to settle for second best.
Photography. A game of inches. Or seconds.
