This evening I drove up to Shenandoah National Park to shoot some evening light photos.  Along Skyline Drive there are thousands of wild sunflowers and other plants in bloom now.

Even though the normal summer haze was covering the mountains and valley, the light from the lowering sun brought out the definition of the trees and ridge lines in the distance.

I was headed to the Stony Man overlook to photograph the horizon at sunset when I spotted a Black Bear near the road.  I pulled over and lifted up my 200-400 lens which had a 1.4x teleconverter attached to take a photo through my car car window but the long focal length and the 1/4 sec. exposure time, along with a moving bear, was way above my handholding capabilities.  So, I couldn’t get a sharp picture but it was still a kick to see a bear this evening.

I arrived at the Stony Man overlook a few minutes before sunset.  The sunset was nice but with no clouds in the sky, not that photographically dramatic so I stayed after the sun had disappeared below the horizon and waited for the sky to turn reddish-orange to take the shot below.