Sunrise at Carnegie Lake

When I looked at what Frank had chosen for the challenge this week, I felt a bit disheartened. I have captured no sunrise images in 2019. The last sunrise I photographed was in October of last year.

I know it's March, but I think Winter and Fall are a few of the best times of the year to capture sunsets and sunrises. The air is often crisp and clear with just a few clouds to add some drama to the scene.

I even started using an app, The Photographer's Ephemeris, that would help me forecast what the sky would look like in the morning. It worked sometimes.

One of the reasons I may be photographing the less often in the early morning is that last year, my contract with the State of New Jersey ended. The commute to Trenton was relatively easy. Trenton is local. It was easy to take more scenic routes to the office, stop and capture anything that caught my eye and not be late for work.

After my contract ended, I started contract work for a bank. They have offices on Wall Street and Iselin, New Jersey. The commute to "The City" is almost two-hours long. When I travel to the Manhattan office, I start commuting very early. Before sunrise. I can see the daybreak from my car or the window of the train. When I drive the 50 minutes to Iselin, the sun is just starting to fill the sky. Because of traffic and these longer commutes, I have no time to dawdle at Carnegie Lake.

But what about the weekend and Wednesday and Friday when I work from home?

Over the last few months, I have been staying up late and getting up late. That's unusual for me. In the past, I was usually up at sunrise or just before dawn. I was always excited to start the new day. I would make coffee, stare out the window and watch the sunrise over the forests in the backyard. Sometimes I would what was about to unfold in the sky and I would rush to grab my camera and drive to the closest open area — usually Carnegie Lake — to capture the scene.

I miss my mornings. I think tonight; I'll skip attempt to return to my old routine; early to bed, early to rise.

These images are from a set I captured last October at Carnegie Lake. I drove over to the lake before sunrise and sat in my car until the sun started to peek out through the clouds. It was a cold morning. I used aperture priority bracketing and created an HDR image in Photomatix Pro.

Sunrise at Carnegie Lake. Yesterday. Before work. The air was cold. — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, f/16, ISO200), Copyright 2018-10-26 Khürt L. Williams

Carnegie Lake Sunrise

There wasn't much fall colour in the area until this week. I was concerned that we would have a repeat of last year. Last year, the fall colours came in late and were short-lived. Most of the trees turned at roughly the same time, leaves turned brown the trees were bare within two weeks. I had hoped to take my camera out to Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve for an early morning long exposure shot across the lake. It was not to be. I overslept.

From my kitchen window, I could see a purple sky developing over the hills. Lake Carnegie immediately came to mind.

Sunrise
Carnegie Lake—FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

I was not disappointed but I did not dress warmly enough. It was cold. I took bracketed shots of each scene. These are HDR images created in Photomatix Pro. The colours are a bit intense but Bhavna liked the result so I am happy.

Sunrise
Carnegie Lake—FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

Morning

A Monday Morning Moment by jansenphotojansenphoto (Dutch goes the Photo!)

I’m neither a morning person nor a true night owl, although there is something about the quiet of the morning before everything is stirring, that is very attractive to me; it allows for that meditative time, when all that surrounds us can be breathed in.

Frank, I am definitely a morning person. My energy levels are the highest at dawn and the lowest at sunset. If I could organize my day around my schedule, I would accomplish everything important to my day before noon at (starting at 7 AM) and prepare to shut down mentally by 3 PM. But I do enjoy the moments of solitude on the weekends when I can focus on my photography and some of the personal tech projects I am working on.

I have been this way for as long as I can remember. I am

Yesterday after lunch, I found myself standing in the parking lot soaking in the sunshine, while staring at the water feature, and listening to the birds call to each other from the trees. It was a moment of zen and at that moment I regretted that I could not have more time to enjoy it.