sunrise | Fotoeins Fotografie

Pacific Ocean, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Waikoloa Village, Kona side, Big Island, Hawaii, USA, fotoeins.com

Rise and Set: First and Last Light

Above/featured: Facing west into the Pacific from Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA – 19 May 2008.

For the last ten years, it’s been an interesting exercise to photograph a variety of sunrises and sunsets at a number of locations around the world. One of my favourite locations was Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in north-central Chile, a place I visited and subsequently worked as astronomer between 1995 and 2011.

But my favourite “sun time” is summer sunrise. Early morning in July has a very special feel; the air is different, it’s still, it’s warm. Birds chirp idly, while the few humans out and about chatter quietly. All like me have eschewed sleep to witness daybreak and sunrise before 6am.

This post is a contribution to WPC’s Rise/Set. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-bFO with the seven photos appearing here made between 2008 and 2014.

First Light

The castle from Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic

First light on the Castle District: Praha, Czech Republic – 7 October 2009.

Mount Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand - 12 July 2012

First light on Te Whanganui a Tara: Wellington, New Zealand – 12 July 2012.

Sunrise over Burrard Inlet : Vancouver, BC, Canada - 1 July 2014, fotoeins.com

First light on Canada Day: Burrard Inlet, Vancouver, Canada – 1 July 2014.

Final Light

Final light over the Pacific Ocean: Región de Coquimbo, Chile – 2 August 2008.

Indian Ocean, South Mole Lighthouse, Fremantle, Perth, WA, Australia, myRTW, fotoeins.com

Final light over the Indian Ocean: Fremantle, Australia – 17 September 2012.

Sun setting over the ‘Coathanger’ (Harbour Bridge), from Dover Heights in Sydney, Australia – 28 April 2013.

Fotoeins Friday: First light on the 1st of July

At a latitude of 49 degrees North, Vancouver gets a lot of light from the early morning hour during the summer. If you stay up all night, you’ll watch the dusk’s glow diminish in the northwest, a faint glow hover over the entire length of the northern horizon, and dawn’s glow strengthen towards sunrise in the northeast. I awoke at 415am, headed out by 445am, and arrived on foot at the waterfront by Burrard Inlet by 515am. The morning sky continued to brighten until the moment the rays of the sun climbed up and over the North Shore mountains. Over on the right, the sails from Canada Place and the cranes from the CenTerm port facility reach high into the sky, as if by sheer reach they’re commanding the high wispy cirrus clouds to break apart for the big bright summer sun.

I made this photo at 545am to begin my 16+ hour marathon to photograph parts of the greater Vancouver area on Canada Day (1 July 2014).

I made the photo above on 1 July 2014. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-5nc.

New Zealand : Wellington Daybreak from Mount Victoria

Before visiting the South Island for the first time, I spent a week with friends in Wellington, New Zealand at the beginning of July 2012. I didn’t have my own set of wheels, but I didn’t need a car in a compact city that is easy to cover on foot. If necessary, the buses work well to reach most destinations in greater Wellington.

The winter weather had been beautiful and relatively calm, which I thought was a little unusual for winter in “windy Welly”. But I was definitely not one to complain, and before leaving Wellington, I wanted to watch the sunrise from the summit of Mount Victoria.

At a height of about 200 metres or 660 feet, Mount Victoria (Tangi Te Keo in Maori) may be more like a hill, but it’s tall enough to get a great view of the city and the harbour. Wellington harbour is also known as Port Nicholson, and Te Whanganui a Tara in Maori.

I caught the first buses of the day: what would I see? Would the skies be clear? I was the sole person to alight the bus at the summit, just minutes before sunrise. There’s something to be said to be the only person at the summit to welcome the brand new day.

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