I've now shot enough sunrises and sunsets that I usually don't spend a lot of time on either of them any more unless there is a new element to them that piques my interest.
Such was the case the morning of Aug. 26, when Lee Ann I awoke just a few minutes before the day's sunrise along North Topsail Island, N.C. We had been invited there to a house rental by her son and daughter-in-law to spend a couple days of R&R.
Other than routine trips to local groceries, pharmacies, fast-food eateries and home improvement stores, it was the first time Lee Ann and I had ventured outside of our home since COVID-19 was declared a serious health threat in early March.
There were other people using the beach, but nothing close to the numbers you'd expect during a hot August week in a normal summer.
We had talked about rising early enough one of the two mornings there to walk along the beach at dawn. So on the 26th, when we awoke noticing that the morning's schedule sunrise was just a few minutes away, we rushed to dress properly, and I grabbed my camera ... just in case.
By the time we hit the beach, we'd gotten there with a minute or two to spare, and we saw the scene shown in the photo leading off the post. It was a pre-sunrise warm-color spectrum enhanced by the presence of a tapestry of clouds in all sizes and shapes. I couldn't wait to see what the sun would do with all that once it inched above the horizon.
The answer comes in the photos -- roughly in chronological order -- shown below. I made various compositions, in most cases integrating few people on the beach into the shot to dramatize the color and exploit the silhouette opportunities.
My favorite has wavered from the lead-off shot, to the fourth one below of the sun kissing the ocean just as the last of the orb inches above the horizon, to one of two shots of people walking into the solar reflection on the beach near the bottom. And notice, also near the bottom, several thin clouds draping themselves over portions of the sun.
I made three exposures of each composition to give me a choice on the best frame to work with in post-processing.
Next up: The rest of my shots at North Topsail Island from the recent trip
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