early morning shuttle view | sarasota bradenton photographer

one very cool thing about living in florida - ok, well there's many cool things - but one thing inparticular is catching a glimpse of the space shuttle launches. although we live on the west coast (with the sweet sunsets) we still can catch the discovery launches just as the reach the end of our atmosphere. well monday mornings launch was spectacular with a night view just before sunrise - the rockets burning through the skyline (i missed that shot :( but what i did catch was nothing less than stunning. the morning sun rays hitting the gases after discovery left earth's atmosphere were incredible from our small little cul-da-sac view. leaving a billowing cloud of gas trails that lit up like you couldn't imagine. i am so happy to have shared this moment with my 10 year old and will keep this memory forever captured.
for those techies interested in the shot - this was captured on canon 5d markII handheld @ F2.8 1/20th 5000 ISO (not a very prepared shot since i had just woken up)