Halo of Ice
Yellowstone National Park
It was one of those mornings in Yellowstone where the cold is so deep it feels like a physical presence. Negative twenty, and the air itself was frozen, filled with what they call diamond dust—tiny ice crystals that catch the light. I was standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and the silence was absolute. Then, as the sun tried to break through, this sun dog formed in the sky. It wasn't a dramatic sunrise, but something more subtle. The air began to glitter, each ice crystal a tiny spark. I framed this small, tough little tree against the glowing haze, trying to capture the feeling of being inside a snow globe, surrounded by quiet, frozen light.