Friday, April 2, 2010

Sunrise Sequence

Yes, I post an inordinate number of sunrise pictures. I can't help it. Our bed faces due east where three uncurtained windows fill the wall. Every morning the growing light whispers that another show's about to begin.

I roll out of bed, grab my camera and start shooting.
If there's time, I dash upstairs to my workroom and take advantage of the slightly higher point of view that raises me and my camera above that tree that obscures part of the horizon -- on this day I got there just as the sun poked its head over the Blue Ridge.
There, that's better.  More sky in this next shot.
You see, matters are complicated a bit by the bird feeder recently installed in the window I prefer to shoot from. Now I can only open the window from the top and then only about eight inches.

  So I have to hold the camera above my head and shoot blind, then check the display to see how my aim was.  In picture number three, I just barely got the sun.

There were some other oddities but I liked these last two. I think, however, I'll treat myself to a little step stool so that I can look through the viewfinder when shooting out this window.

Posted by Picasa


17 comments:

Victoria said...

Gorgeous photos, Vicki. If I had a view like that I wouldn't be able to resist taking a lot of photos of it either!

I've been meaning to say how much I liked the photos of the hawk. What a beautiful capture!

joanna said...

Vicki

I can fully understand --- I did a post a while back called "Everyday Inspiration" - and I had a few pictures of the sunrise -- this is what I said "The sun slowly makes it way over the horizon, lighting the way with a miraculous power and awe inspiring beauty that is purposefully alive at every moment. The sun seems to play with us as the dolphins - it repeats it's stellar performance for us every morning when we wake up early enough to watch it in all its glory coming up over the horizon as it has been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. In this moment in time I cannot comprehend my own seemingly unimportant existence as the rays of the sun wash over me but I am eternally grateful for being alive."

Watching the sunrise Vicki is wordless paragraphs of eternal beauty. Keep taking those pictures
Joanny

Martin said...

Just when I think you'll never better a sunrise shot....you go and do it! These are the scenes to set a person up for the day ahead.

Pat in east TN said...

Absolutely outstanding pictures ... breath-taking!

Jean Baardsen said...

What incredible beauty to wake up to! I love the photos. Am I seeing fog, snow, or clouds in between?

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks, Victoria! I was excited about the hawk!

Joanny -So many so-called primitive' people make a ritual of greeting the sun each morning. I think it's a fine idea.

Martin -- I'm so spoiled by the view from our bedroom that I get a little twitchy staying somewhere without an eastern window or worse, no window at all.

Pat -- another beautiful day in our part of the world!

Jean -- it's morning fog rising from the French Broad River down there. We can't see the river from our house -- just its fog.

Merisi said...

Vicki,
I am sitting here, giggling,
dear fellow crazy photographer!
You definitely need a stepping stool,
possibly of Laurel wood,
you earned it!

I love how the lavender color appears when I click on your link, and the images follow, one by one (isn't a slow connection so much more poetic than a faster one? *smile*)! Today's pictures are truly special, and even more so for me, who sees the rising sun only once it has climbed over the roofs.

Happy Easter,
to you and your loved ones,
Merisi

Vicki Lane said...

Dear Merisi! Of course, I could move the bird feeder but just now I'm enjoying the squirrel sitting in it gobbling down sunflower seeds.

Unknown said...

These pics are the reason people use words like "glorious" to describe the sun's arrival. Thanks for the lift!

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Lord, Vicki, these are amazing photos. I can't resist sunrise either, but either my camera or my eye or both (or maybe the view from my house) can't come close to the exquisite detail in your photos. We should celebrate sunrise. Isn't there a tribe that stands cheering/chanting the sun up every morning? Or used to be a tribe doing that. Maybe that's why the sun comes up, after all. It needs us to welcome it.

Peggy said...

Glorious pics - just the right thing to wake up to on a Good Friday.

Reader Wil said...

I am glad that you rolled out of your bed and grabbed the camera to shoot these magnificent photos! Thanks! Happy Easter!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

How wonderful that your bed faces the sunrises. I would think that would be pretty close to heaven.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter Vicki and a great weekend.
Sam

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks, Liz! (Next year in Marshall!)

The Navajo greet the sun -- individually, Kay. Maybe you're thinking of the Australian Aborigines or some tribe in Africa-- the Masai? And probably lots of others. Nice to think of the sun being greeted as it rolls round the Earth (I know, I know, it's the other way round. Poetic license here.)


Thanks, Peg and Wil and Sam! Happy spring/Easter/Ostara/Peseach!

Tammy said...

It never gets old, does it? Love the pictures, your morning view is awesome. I've done a few of those contorted, camera pointed in the right direction and click shots too. Keeps life interesting.
Have a great weekend.
Tammy

Carol Murdock said...

Vicki.....you can post a picture of your Appalachian Sunrise everyday! It's one of my very favorite things in life! You are really blessed to awake to this everyday!

Tipper said...

Lovely-that view will never get old!