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Tag: sunrise

November 16, 2023

How to Spend 30 Minutes to Take the Edge Off a Work Trip

If you’re online at sunrise, don’t forget to turn around and appreciate the sunrise outside your hotel window.

Work trips can be stressful. Even if you appreciate the opportunity, working long hours for consecutive days in a different time zone can wear on even the most experienced traveler.

So often, I hear stories from colleagues who have returned from their travels, and they lament that they never were able to escape from their work environment and appreciate the location they’ve visited.

I say there’s always an opportunity to squeeze in a few minutes to get outside and smell the roses. You just need to be planful and allow yourself a little time to pull away from the gravity of your work requirements.

Take a Half Hour to Refuel
Thirty minutes is all you really need to walk about and see your environment. Really experience it.

Do it during lunch. Take a break. Perhaps start your day a little earlier. If you can’t find 30 minutes… or the time to take two 15-minute breaks, then there’s likely another issue to address.

If you want to maximize these moments, you might want to take a few pictures along the way. You certainly don’t have to, but if you like searching for cool photos during your day-to-day, your walk might reveal exactly that.

The Healing Properties of a Micro Excursion
Whether you want to connect with your space, take a photo or just clear your head, carving out 30 minutes for a ‘micro excursion’ is one of the best ways to feed your sense of well-being.

It can make all the difference.

Here’s what I spotted during my own stroll in Palm Desert, California during a recent work trip. I used my iPhone 15 Pro Max for close ups and my Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200D for the zoom.

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July 9, 2023

A Cloudy Morning Doesn’t have to Ruin your Sunrise Photography

If you’re looking to photograph the sunrise, but it’s a cloudy day, consider a time lapse instead. Here’s what you might discover…

It’s not really the sunrise. It’s everything else that surrounds the rising, warm circle. That’s what matters when you’re trying to capture this magical moment. It’s the state of the rest of the sky that makes our sun the star.

Placed properly (as if the photographer has the power), clouds can make a sunrise truly spectacular. All of those wonderful colors in the early morning sky are immediately enhanced by clouds.

Clouds are your friend. Clouds are your special ingredient. Until they take over and ruin your shot.

But even after they creep in and mask the glow, don’t call it a day. It’s not over.

Speed up the Clouds with a Time Lapse
If you choose to look at clouds differently and start to observe their motion and trajectory, you can begin to unlock their beautiful intensity with your camera. Often, you can accomplish this with a time lapse.

Even the grayest and foggiest morning may contain its own cloud dance that can be revealed through a time lapse. You just need to speed up time to really see what’s going on…

Stormy Predictions?
Last year, I captured some amazing sunrise time lapses overlooking the mud flats in Cape Porpoise, Maine. And yes, the best ones had lots of clouds circling the sun, and they all gave it enough space to visibly rise.

This summer, my family and I returned to this incredible part of Maine, but my photography encountered more challenging weather conditions. In fact, the forecast was for rain each day of the week. It was as if a storm cloud would be parked overhead for the entirety of our vacation.

But as my wife likes to say, coastal weather conditions can be unpredictable. And that’s where the opportunity lies.

So instead of sleeping in, I still woke up early every day to evaluate the cloud cover.

Vacation Report
The first morning totally fooled the weather forecast, and I was there to witness the sun making its glorious appearance.
This was my gift for the week. The remaining days, I would have to work harder to find my shots…

On the next morning, the clouds rolled in during my time lapse recording to obscure any hope of seeing the sun. As I stood there at 5am, I wondered what the point was to keep going. But I continued my 30-minute time lapse recording by my little DJI Osmo Pocket.
When I reviewed my Osmo Pocket’s video clip, the sped-up motion revealed a morning rush hour of Maine cloud traffic.

It was dark. It was moody. It had great flow. I loved it.

The Dark and the Light
Yes, I was drawn to the power of the dark side. And I had plenty opportunity to experience it on this vacation. It’s pretty cool. I get it now.

I’m pleased that I found both the dark and the light during this trip to Maine.

Like a great restaurant, nature just serves it up. And you enjoy it.

I learned that it’s not about finding the shot you want, it’s about experiencing the uniqueness of each new day.

And if your camera can capture just a little of that, you’ve accomplished your job as a photographer.

Here are my morning time lapses.

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July 3, 2022

Why I Woke Up at 4:30am on Vacation to Shoot these 6 Sunrise Timelapses

If you’re on vacation and happen to have a front-row seat to the sunrise, you might want to consider working that into your schedule. Here are the results of my creative effort.

I’ve just returned from a restorative family vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine. We stayed at a magical house on the water with two other families. The house is in Cape Porpoise right on an ocean inlet that transforms into an otherworldly span of mudflats at low tide.

The birds woke me up on our first morning at 4:45am. I peered out our bedroom window onto the flats and took in a pre-sunrise sky ablaze in purple and pink-colored clouds. I saw one of the other dads already out there with camera in hand. There was no need for words. I gestured that I would join his sunrise photo shoot.

Half asleep, I grabbed my tripod and DJI Osmo Pocket camera to record a timelapse of the sunrise over the mudflats. I stumbled down the stairs and onto the edge of the flats to join my friend.

The Set Up

The sun was due in 10 minutes, and I was running out of time. I hurriedly set up my timelapse to run for 20 minutes, snapping a frame at 2-second increments. This gimbal also let me add a little motion in the shot, which is really nice. And then I let nature take over. I watched the sunrise and simultaneously created this sunrise timelapse video.

Sunday sunrise timelapse

The result wasn’t terrible, but the length felt short to me. And there weren’t many clouds in my shot. Plus, my settings didn’t allow enough time for the clouds to really move through my frame. (Clearly, it’s all about the clouds.)

I immediately wanted to try again. So the next morning, I did exactly that. I adjusted the timelapse settings to record for an hour at 3-second frame increments. That would capture more of the sunrise and also help the clouds to move faster. Here’s the 40-second result (sped up x 4).

Monday sunrise timelapse

The scattered cloud cover instantly made this sunrise more interesting, and the longer timelapse felt like the perfect length.

In Search of More

I sat down on the lawn with my coffee and felt both relaxed and incredibly satisfied. I had fed my creative self, and it wasn’t even 6am yet.

So I decided to repeat the exercise for the rest of the week. 4:30am… every morning.

Waking up earlier that I normally do ran completely counter to my vacation goals of sleeping in. But I adjusted with adding afternoon vacation naps to my schedule.

All sunrises are unique. Even though the sun is a constant, the different cloud formations create limitless timelapse opportunities.

That said, I think some of my videos were more interesting than others based on cloud position and movement. But that’s just one opinion. Here are the rest of my vacation timelapses. (I’ve also sped them up a bit more here.)

Tuesday sunrise timelapse
Wednesday sunrise timelapse
Thursday sunrise timelapse
Friday sunrise timelapse

Not to play favorites (every sunrise is perfect), but I think Wednesday was the winner.

(Any other thoughts?)

The Value of Greeting the Day

On the last morning of our vacation, a storm was predicted, but I woke up early anyway and walked outside to greet the day and feel the breezes. Yes, it started to rain, but it was light.

There was no sunrise. But of course the dawn did arrive. I sat down on an Adirondack chair with my cup of joe to just… be.

I took in the dark clouds overhead. I didn’t have a camera in my hand, but I still relished in the conclusion of my week-long morning exercise.

And then I understood that it’s not always about being able to capture a sunrise. Sometimes, just being there is more than enough.

My vacation was complete.

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