Waiting for the Light

It's been a few weeks since I started the morning madness. Inspired by many people, Galen Rowell in particular, to seek the magic hour, I've been coming to the Westport, CT, beach every weekend morning for the past few weeks trying my hand at capturing a spectacular sunrise. Winter has more or less arrived - it certainly feels that way in the hour before sunrise on an open beach with a stiff breeze. It is no mean feat trying to control a camera in this kind of cold; Eastern Mountain Sports in Stamford will certainly be making their quarterly numbers this time around, what with all the gear I've bought just trying to stay warm. This one is by no means the best sunrise I've seen since I began this adventure, but this is the first one to come out relatively well. I will be posting more pictures of sunrises as I get them but I wanted to write a little more on the topic of sunrises (and sunsets) in general. My recent re-discovery of photography has been very rewarding in many ways. For one, I wake up well before dawn - it was the John Deere tractor that last got me this excited - and take in the morning ocean air instead of reaching for the Blackberry to bear witness to more corporate lunacy and incompetence. Many of us go through sunrises and sunsets our whole lives without quite so often pausing to watch and wonder in amazement at this natural phenomenon that happens with perfect regularity. I find it strange that it was in trying to make pictures that I've re-discovered the beauty of the sun at the horizon and nowadays I pause ever so often in the morning and evening to take in the views and . It has taken me back to the decade in Mussoorie, home to some of the most awe inspiring sunsets on the planet (with its winter line phenomenon). And this is just a sunrise. When was the last time you paused to witness something truly amazing in nature? When was the last time you sought it out purposefully? Try it. It might just change how you look at things and what you value. And while I was labouring over this post, I managed to get this sunset, again at the Westport, CT, beach. It's getting better, as you can see.