Do Extraordinary Things
A low-hanging fog blanketed the surface of the river this morning. Clouds covered most of the sky as the sun tried to burn it’s way through. And for the first time in a while, a large patch of grass was exposed. I enjoyed all the colors and contrast of this scene.
This pier is a work of art in itself, with its flowing curves that snake along the waterfront. There was a bit of a haze hanging over the city this morning, which helped to diffuse the light of the rising sun.
Although this daily project of mine started out primarily as a lifestyle challenge to rise before dawn and take a simple photo–any photo–of the sunrise each morning, the photography aspect of it has been becoming more and more important. As I’ve continued to push myself harder, it has been extremely gratifying to see the improvements in my photography over the past few months.
I still have a lot to learn, but this is more about the journey than the destination.
I wandered around searching for a shot that would convey the feeling of this rainy winter morning. It’s often not an easy task on a day like today.
Warmer temperatures for the second day in a row combined with a light drizzle has been causing much of the snow to melt, and has given the streets and sidewalks an icy sheen.
We turned the clocks forward overnight, which meant most people got one hour less sleep, but not me. Turning the clocks ahead also meant the sun would rise one hour later than it did yesterday, so I got to sleep in today. It also meant that I would have more time in the morning to walk to further locations if I wanted to.
Being able to sleep a little later this morning was a nice reward for making it this far in my project. Photographing the sunrise each morning has really helped condition me to wake up early and have better habits. Turning the clocks forward by an hour means the sunrise time returns to around where it was at the start of my project on January 1st, so now I can use this time to further solidify my new habits. It’s going to be a couple of months before the sun rises as early as it did yesterday, and by that point, I’ll be even more conditioned for it.
I took advantage of the extra time this morning by walking down to Pier A, which is the furthest I’ve walked for a sunrise photograph so far.
They sky was glowing in blue and gold shining through a dramatic blanket of clouds. Wanting to feature the iconic gazebo in the foreground, I took shots from several locations around the pier, but none were particularly satisfying. Somewhat disappointed, and expecting to return home with a set of mediocre photos, I decided to try one more spot. I backed up all the way to the middle of the pier and moved slightly from side to side until everything lined up. The gazebo, the Empire State Building, the clouds, and the treeline all came together. The sunlight glowing through the clouds were like fingers emanating from the center of the scene, and one of these fingers even somehow lined up perfectly with the tops of the trees. I captured this shot and went home happy.
I’ve waited months to get this shot. Each day the sun rises just a bit further to the north, and until now it hasn’t been in the perfect position to frame this photograph.
Today was the earliest sunrise of the year so far, but it was also the earliest in going to have to wake up for a while because tonight we set the clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time.
This photo was taken in front of the Hoboken Historical Museum, where I hope to showcase my work someday