Pre-Dawn Outing

As a photographer, and in general, dawn and dusk are my favorite times of the day. My favorite time to breathe what’s left of our fresh air. My favorite time to watch the colors change due to the rising or setting sun. Both are somewhat inconvenient, considering I usually wake up with the sun and enjoy dinner as it develops. However, with today’s rising temperature and a sense of drive. I could leave the apartment, return without waking my better half, and enjoy a moment of complete solitude while capturing a few unguarded moments.

Set Your Alarm

For me personally, there is nothing quite as inspiring as photographing a dawn or dusk. I also love heading out with my gear during the dead of night. It’s a time where the air smells fresh and solitude often makes an appearance. While it’s never easy to leave without a curious, yet demanding, “Where are you going?” from your better half. It’s always rewarding.

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Morning Stretch

Prior to this mornings workout, I headed up to the roof deck to get a different view of the cloud coverage I wake up to on more than a regular basis. I manged to get a few shots in before my scheduled time at the gym. With Covid-19 still raging and our travels more restricted. It seems that more and more time is spent closer to home. For sanity sake, I’m doing everything possible to stay safe, busy and artful. I hope you all do the same.

Here Comes the Sun

I spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of pictures I’d like to take. As someone who became interested in taking pictures in his teens, but didn’t own an SLR until his mid twenties. While debatable, I’d say photography has become the greatest passion in my life. As someone who made his name as a music photographer, built a strong portfolio as a studio photographer and worked continuously on a project called “Left Behind”. I feel that I’m always dedicating whatever spare time I have to learning, testing and putting new projects to work. It wouldn’t be overstating if I said it was. While my time on the East Coast offered an abundance of beautiful sunsets. Living in Seattle, an area with many lakes, bays and waterways at every turn. I have long imagined myself waking up in the early hours and driving to a spot where I can watch the sun rise.

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Thanksgiving Sunrise

As a kid, many of the sleepovers I attended at my friends home had nothing to do with sleep of any kind. If I remember correctly, and I think I do. The goal was to stay up all night in order to get a head start of the next day’s badly mapped out journey into areas and neighborhoods that often resided outside of the borders or imaginary lines our parents often forbid us from wandering past.

Years later I still have a love and admiration for those pre-dawn hours and minutes where much of the world still sleeps. The streets and adjacent pavement have yet to feel the impact of rush hour cars and hustling feet. Aside from the fact that I have to actually go to bed earlier and be aided by the sound of my alarm. Not much has changed. Upon learning that Thanksgiving morning would allow the sun to rise and proudly show itself. I once again set my alarm early enough to join in and watch as the sun peaked over the horizon.

As early as it might have been and as much as I may have waited to enjoy watching the night become day. I was not the first one on the beach. Waiting for me were two separate groups of fishermen, a loving couple, a surfer and someone who found the perfect time and place to reflect and/or mediate. While returning to my everyday responsibilities on the West Coast may not present the same opportunities to watch the sun rise. I’m sure I’ll find similar joys within time.

 

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New Day Rising

Unable to sleep the other night I walked down to the Hudson River to watch the sun rise over the Manhattan skyline. The morning air is so fresh and cool while that feeling of solitude before the day breaks is the perfect tonic for clearing the mind. As I stood there admiring the day in it’s infancy I noticed this man paddling  north. The site of this solitude man looking up at a  monster of a city was awe inspiring. It reminded me that no fight is too big. No task is to hard. We can accomplish anything we put our mind to. Here’s to a new day and taking on every challenge that comes our way.