After the Salt Lake Temple, Nauvoo was at the top of my list. Time passed and I could never seem to fit in a trip there. My wife visited a cousin in Missouri and spent several days in Nauvoo during the summer pageant. She raved about how beautiful the Temple and Nauvoo were. With her encouragement, I resolved to plan a trip. I knew that I wanted some dramatic skies, so I thought springtime would be the best time to go. I spent two days driving cross-country and planned to arrive in the afternoon, in time for a sunset image. A traffic jam in Kansas City slowed me down enough that I watched the sun set when I was still more than 20 miles from Nauvoo.
     My window of opportunity closed for several days as storms rolled through and rain poured. I was able to visit some of the historic sites and get to know the area, but the bad weather was frustrating. I drove into Iowa and down to Carthage, both with sunny weather, but returned to Nauvoo and rain.
     My last evening in Nauvoo looked promising. The sky cleared in the west and the rain stopped. I had scouted locations for days, so I knew where I wanted to set up. I set my giant tripod up to straddle the fence around the temple and set my ladder up behind it. I composed the image and just sat there waiting for the light to get right. Clouds kept drifting by, blocking the setting sun. Finally, just before sun set over the Mississippi River, the clouds cleared and the Temple was bathed in warm light.
     In these conditions, colors seem to glow. A few lights inside the Temple are visible and the clock on the tower shows it's nearly 8pm. I exposed as many sheets of film as I could before the light faded and I felt blessed to have had such perfect conditions. I wish I could say I was patient and had faith in the eventual outcome, but I was stressed and discouraged for several days prior. I'm grateful for the outcome and feel the trip would have been worthwhile with just this one image. I have several other versions of this image and some more compositions that I'll post later.