To observe the National Parks Foundation Leadership Summit happening down in Austin, Texas this week, I thought it appropriate to select a "photo of the week" from Big Bend National Park. For those attending the conference, Big Bend is just a short 7 1/2 hours away by car -- and in a state as huge as Texas, that would be considered just a hop, skip, and a jump.

The muted brown tones are what attracted me to this shot. I'd say the composition is a little "heavy" on the right side, with both the mountain and the bundle of cacti, but it still works. Looks to me like the photographer used either a graduated neutral density filter here, or employed some High Dynamic Range post-production techniques. I'd think the sky would either be overexposed, or the ground underexposed without such tools / techniques.