Autumn Dawn, Lake Hamilton

Dawn over Lake Hamilton in autumn — the Arkansas lake in the Ouachita Mountains near Hot Springs, the surrounding hills still dark as the first color builds over the water. The shorter days of fall bring sunrise to a more civilized hour, and the cool air keeps the lake glassy well into the morning.

Photographed at Lake Hamilton in 2021. This is a lake I return to in different years and seasons; the autumn light has a depth to it that the summer mornings, for all their softness, don't quite reach.