Sunrise walk

I took a day off from work, and decided to photograph the pink glow of a winter sunrise. So at about 9:05 am I walked out my front door and headed for our local pond. I realize this is why I am a sunset girl: It's only in wintertime I can get up before the sun without losing any sleep.


The first rosy glow of the rising sun colored the exhaust stream of a passing jet.

I kept wondering if I'd capture a lovely dawn like I'd seen the last couple of days and the subtle rosy glow here encouraged me. And I like naked trees.

Waiting for the dawn.

Still waiting for the dawn - and thinking this shot would make nice wallpaper for the computer. So I experimented with a bunch of other shots. Then I realized that the soles of my boots should have been thicker if I was going to stand around on a frozen rock, photographing a frozen shore.

Dead stuff can be so beautiful with frost on it.

Oh, wow! These birds are not common around where I live! It's a jackdaw - Norway's smallest crow bird (kaie). They sound kind of like parakeets. I heard it before I saw it, and I thought at first that someone's pet bird had escaped. But it was keeping company with a crow and stopped "singing" when the crow flew away. When the jackdaw itself took flight, it's wings looked exactly like a crow's and that's when I suspected it may be a "kaie".

"Duck and Umbrella" - Watercolor On Gravel, 2008. OK, I'm just being silly. But it's an arty shot, yes?

Typical. There I am rushing home so I can thaw out my toes, and that's when the sky finally decides to get some color.

Comments

Zuzana said…
Beautiful winter pictures!
I know what you mean about the sleep. In winter I could sometimes sleep the whole day, as it really sometimes doesn't even get light this far up north.:)
Sparkling Red said…
Very pretty! I am appreciating bare trees more than usual this winter. They have a stark beauty.
alice said…
That's a very nice set of photos! They're so beautiful and yet capture the bleakness of a cold winter morning as well!
Keera Ann Fox said…
Thanks to all for the compliments!

Protege, it's not about sleeping more in winter (that's another matter); it's about what time the sun actually rises. In the summer, it's up at 4 am whereas I'm not. ;-)

Spark, I like the starkness, too, and the fact that the lack of foliage sudden makes visible views one didn't realize were there in the summer.

You nailed it, Alice. Bleak beauty sums up winter very well.
Beep said…
So wonderful to see winter again...I do miss it!
Keera Ann Fox said…
Yeah? You miss cold blasts hitting your neck, your toes and fingers and cheeks constantly freezing, hat hair, running nose, and vain attempts at finding your footing on black ice? ;-)

And bracing mornings, soft light, glittering frost... :-)
Keera Ann Fox said…
Yeah? You miss cold blasts hitting your neck, your toes and fingers and cheeks constantly freezing, hat hair, running nose, and vain attempts at finding your footing on black ice? ;-)

And bracing mornings, soft light, glittering frost... :-)
Unknown said…
Oh, lovely, lovely winter shots!
Sunrise at 9?
I thought we were late with 7.30 :D

And yes, the time when action happens is usually when you are already toast yourself and on your way home ;)
Tom said…
For various reasons we've had a bunch of people from Scotland visit here recently - many of them friends. More than one has suggested I apply for a current job opening in Scotland because it'd suit me (and it probably would).

Although flattered, your beautiful photos and narrative reminded me of something - there's no way I could live in a place where the sun rises after I do!

I love that last photo - you captured that bird flying off to work for the day!
Keera Ann Fox said…
Isn't Scotland's bad weather, which it passes on to Norway's west coast, more of a deterrent than when sunrise is? I mean, you being an astronomer and all, aren't you usually up before the sun, anyway - technically speaking? ;-)

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