This week, Ana of Anvica’s Gallery guest hosts the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Given the ongoing concerns with Covid-19, the uncertainties of modern life, and the ongoing political strife in our country, that song from “Orphan Annie” is a message of hope and that a better day is coming. You can read her entire challenge post here.

What better way to introduce some of my favorite sunrise images. I don’t actually get too many early morning images because I usually sleep through the best part of the morning for photographers. I start with an early morning trip to Bryce Canyon after a surprise October snowfall, the sun lit the valley behind us with a beautiful glow.

Arizona is known for its spectacular sunrises and sunsets, but the colorful skies don’t last long. I was up early and noticed some unusual color light streaming in the front window of our house, and I stepped outside to see a glorious magenta sky. Knowing that it probably wouldn’t last long, I didn’t begin to try to take off toward a desert scene and just walked to the end of the block to grab a photo with my cell phone before I missed the opportunity.

North Carolina’s Outer Banks islands have an unobstructed view of the Atlantic Ocean. We woud only be there for one morning, so our family got up early and we headed toward the beach. I captured several sunrise images that morning, but this one is my favorite.

Though the filename of this image is “Sunset at Sea”, the time stamp tells me I mis-named it. This morning shot was captured on the fantail of the Carnival Magic in February 2018.

My final image is from my home state of North Dakota. The cloudy sky would soon obliterate the sun, but for a few magical moments, the golden sky appeared to set the trees on fire.

As I have often noted, if your browser supports the function, you can click on an image to enlarge it for a better view… and remember…

The sun will come out tomorrow!

John Steiner

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