It was my second time to visit Morocco, where I met up with a friend I made during my first trip. We rode camels into the dunes of the Sahara just before sunrise, and I sat beside him as one of the camels rested, lazily chewing its cud. Just before the sun peaked above the horizon, I took a picture of the moment when the colors were at their most intense. It was the last chance I had to get an exposure that would show all of the detail the scene had to offer.

Shot on a Canon EOS 5D (original model) with a Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 at 16mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, underexposed by 2/3 of a stop. Post-processed in Photoshop (cropping, curves and saturation adjustments).