I love dawn. Besides the obvious fact that it’s the start of the day, it’s a way to get the day off to a beautiful start. If you’re looking for spectacle, sunrises don’t generally compete with sunsets. During the day the atmosphere gets churned and stirred up by the warming effect of the sun. Winds kick up dust, human activity creates pollution, all of which contributes to the warm rich colors of sunset. But during the night the atmosphere cools down and becomes quite, So that when the sun makes its way around the back side of our planet and is ready to begin its journey across the sky, the air is clean and calm. All of this makes for a clarity and purity that is the special realm of dawn.
The general rule of thumb for photographing sunrises is to arrive about 45 minutes early. By this time all but the brightest stars have faded and the eastern sky is beginning to glow. I prefer to arrive even earlier, up to an hour and a half before sunrise. At this time I get to marvel at the night sky, enjoy the constellations that are familiar from my childhood and experience the entire progression from night to day.
One of the wonders of sunrise is the light. It not only grows in intensity but its qualities undergo a marvelous transformation. And our experience of it also has a transforming effect.
The sun’s rays touch the very upper reaches of our atmosphere. The earth below is bathed in a soft blue light, the purity of which will not be matched again for the rest of the day. The warming in the upper atmosphere stirs the first breezes of day down below. The temperature drops and we are glad we added that extra layer of clothing before venturing out. As we look out over the scene before us we feel the peace of a night of rest and regeneration. The bustle of the coming day has not yet intruded on our quite.
Our earth continues to turn, bringing the sun closer to the horizon. The sky in the east begins to take on a yellow glow. It comes on slowly, almost imperceptibly. You really aren’t aware of the change until you look around and realize that the world is emerging from the cool shadows of night. The colors of day are beginning to cast their first tentative hues. The earth begins to glow.
Now the power of the sun, still unseen, begins to cast its influence on our world. The eastern sky glows a brilliant yellow in anticipation of its arrival and this warm light begins to transform our world. It flows into the nooks and crannies, even dispelling the night from the shadows. We feel our excitement build in anticipation of the sun’s arrival. A new energy, the energy of daytime, begins to flow through our bodies.
Moments before the sun appears above the horizon the earth is ready to receive it. The world waits in anticipation and so do we. We are eager for its warming rays.
You don’t have to be looking to the east to know that the sun has peeked above the horizon. You can sense it. You can feel it. All east-facing things gladly receive the first rays from the sun that is still only partially showing itself. The infant beams reach out and gently, tenderly kiss the earth.
But oh how quickly that changes. The sun quickly bursts upon the earth. Shadows emerge and grow in strength and what was uniform a few moments before is now cast in rapidly building contrast.
In a matter of moments the full life-giving power of the sun is upon us. The world is fully awake. They day has begun. We humans will go about our business, our struggles and triumphs. We will delude ourselves into thinking that our efforts are of monumental significance. But the natural cycle we just witnessed exceeds all our puny endeavors. The sunrise we just witnessed has been happening on this planet for the last four and a half billion years, day in, day out. And the sun that is now climbing into the sky has driven the weather that created miraculous places like Bryce Canyon, places we can experience and reconnect with the best part of ourselves.
Especially at dawn.
(521)
Ralph, I really enjoyed this post! The sunrise is a special moment of the day and you have captured the minute by minute explosion of light in a most beautiful setting! Well done!