This week, Brie Anne asks us to set an alarm, get up early and share the early morning light. You can view the entire challenge post here. I am not normally a morning person, so my collection of images with low sun angles mostly tend toward the sunset hours rather than at sunrise when, if I am awake, I am guzzling coffee and sitting in front of my computer. I’m not likely out somewhere taking photos. I know, that’s my loss.

Having made my preference for sleeping in known, I must say I am not without early morning images. After reviewing my collection, I found I have more examples than most people would care to look at in a photo challenge post. So I have reduced the number to four images that I like. The opening image features sunrise at Bryce Canyon after the first snowfall of the season. That morning, much of the park was closed due to snow-covered roads in the park. The opening photo featured the view from Bryce Point, one of the more popular viewing areas.

Another of my favorite shots from Bryce taken that morning focuses on a different viewing area, this view facing a more westerly direction. The Paria Viewpoint didn’t get much sun that morning due to the layer of clouds that shielded it from the sun. The Paria View was the only other viewpoint open that morning. We had the place to ourselves as everyone else busied themselves at Bryce Point. Click here to view more photos of that early morning adventure.

The photo above features an early morning view of the westbound entrance to the Panama Canal. All of the ships in this area waited their scheduled trip westbound through the canal. The cruise ship hit the canal early in the morning, scheduled to start the transit shortly after sunrise. We would leave the west exit of the canal around 3 PM that same day. You can read more about the canal crossing and view some more of my canal images here.

My last submission for this week’s challenge is a view of the harbor at Ketchikan, Alaska. You can read about, and see photos taken at Ketchikan in 2014 here. And from there, you can link to other stories about the itinerary on our cruise along Alaska’s coastline.

I hope you enjoyed reviewing my early bird challenge entries. Who knows, maybe I’ll get up one of these mornings and post a second set of challenge entries taken fresh from the camera before the week is out.

John Steiner