Columbia Bottom Conservation area, where this image was taken, and Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary across the river are famous for the birds and other wildlife they support. I have enjoyed birding these places, located at the confluence of North America’s two greatest rivers- the Missouri and the Mississippi, for more than five years now. But, there is another reason I love being able to visit these locations. These are two of the closest places near St. Louis to see open skies, open skies without hills, trees, building or too many power lines and utility poles. I love shooting sunsets here because of the amount of sky that can be captured. True, I did not cover much sky in this image. This was due to the limited clouds in tonight’s sky. If there were more clouds throughout the sky I would have loved to have let the sky cover two thirds or more of the frame.
It always saddens me when I’m driving to or from work and see one of the many spectacular sunsets or sunrises from the car and know I can’t be out in nature trying to experience that moment and capture it in a lasting image.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 
gorgeous sunset very well captured.. I love the foreground twigs !
while looking at your picture i observed something interesting.as i had to use the scroll bar to accommodate the height, my browser accidentally cropped the sky above the reds and that appealed very much. did you try cropping that section (sky above that fiery red looks a bit uninteresting) especially given that the foreground holds so much interest ? ..just a thought
I see what you mean and I could not agree more! I guess this is an example of following the “rule of thirds” to literally. I will crop this to make this change. I wish I would have seen this in camera!
Thank you.
if only we could see everything in camera 🙂 …our minds and eyes see different things at different times so its always good to have a second look.
Cheers Mate !
I just stumbled across your blog while looking for information on LaBarque Creek CA. (I was just there but didn’t have time to hike the whole thing and was trying to find out where the hole in the rock falls are on the trail?)
Your photos are amazing, I think the exact same thing about sunrises while driving to work. There was a spectacular one this past week and I so wished I was somewhere to capture it instead of stuck in a car. I have a hard time getting anyone else to rise at 4 am with me to drive a hour or two away to a scenic spot to watch the sun crest the horizon and when I am at the right spot at the right time, it’s always one of those bland skies that is completely clear of clouds or completely overcast with too many clouds!