This photograph was taken at the Badlands, in Death Valley National Park. I woke up before sunrise and hiked through the badlands while the temperature was still bearable and the absent sun allowed photographs. While climbing and exploring the solid sand-like hills, I noticed the sun was coming up over the horizon and sunlight had not yet hit the well known, "Zabriskie Point". I climbed the top of the nearest hill and set up my tripod and my composition. Luckily, I was able to catch the golden sunlight just as it lit the mountains in the distance, seconds before it actually reached the peak of the point. Once the sunlight had come over the side of Zabriskie Point that was facing me, the point had lost a lot of it's detail and It became way too blown out to photograph. I seemed to have taken my shot at the right time.