This is the perfect time of year to grab a camera and head outside, even if you have less than an hour to actually be outside.

Today was a full day of commitments and so I had no intention of photographing anything, but I grabbed my camera and tossed it in the back of the car just in case. Then, as the sun was starting to set and lower to the horizon line and light scattered beautifully across the autumn leaves, I looked at my watch, back up at the road, back down at my watch… and thought… let’s do this.

So, I headed out for about 35 minutes to briskly cover the ground I normally try to when I have a proper hour. For fun, I decided to challenge myself to find a smaller and nearer scene in addition to my signature big and wide. My goal was to move quickly and to end up with two images, one near and one far, that told the story of what I saw.