I had prayed about this shot for days. The weather had been too good. Perfect skies don't communicate what I wanted to capture in this sacred scene, for this is the half-way point on the road to Carthage, Illinois--the Martyrdom Trail.
I only had one day left in my schedule. Then, some residual moisture blew in from the east on this morning and I drove out to my pre-scouted spot to set up.
I pulled the tripod legs out wide so the camera was only six inches off the very dirt by where Joseph and Hyrum rode their horses. Everything started coming together. The sunlight came beaming through the soybean field to the east and the weeds on the trail began to have that perfect morning glow.****
Joseph said on that fateful day, ®I'm going like a lamb to the slaughter but I'm as calm as a summer's morning.®
As I was laying in the dirt pressing the shutter and pulling focus over and over again, I knew this scene was a gift. It was the answer to my many prayers. I could not stop crying.
