We have been blessed by a bedroom that faces almost due east. If whoever built our house had been thinking, he would have put the bedrooms on the opposite side of the house. Most of us don’t want the sun pouring in at 5 in the morning, no matter when we went to bed the previous evening.
The actual hour when the sun rises depends on the time of year. The golden hour shows up later in winter. For reasons I’m sure someone could explain to me, dawn is most spectacular around the equinox. Which is why I have great sunrise pictures taken in early and mid March — and almost none from summer months.
Whether we’ve hit the bed at 3 in the morning or slightly earlier (rarely much earlier because we just can’t seem to convince ourselves to go to bed before we run out of old movies to watch), sunrise is not our best time of the day.
Except sometimes. I’ve gotten surprisingly good at hanging out of my bathroom window with a camera, then closing down, stretching, yawning, and tucking myself back into bed. Getting older offers few real benefits, but not having to get up early to get to work? That’s a biggie.
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Categories: #Photography, Dawn, Sunrise
YESTERDAY, I OFFERED SUNSET. TODAY, HERE’S SUNRISE! 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Nice shots. I seem to be missing the sunrises this year. Last year I had to get up early for my son. So I saw a lot of sunrises, and our sunsets were spectacular as well. Not so much this year for some strange reason.
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It’s spotty for me, too. My bathroom window faces east and the time I have to get up is — depending on the time of year — approximately sunrise. And this year, there were a couple of spectacular ones. Other years, I have no sunrise pictures at all. It’s not planned. Just sort of happens.
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The times I have seen the most spectacular sunsets – my camera wasn’t around – now that is very annoying.
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And that’s why, given the east facing of that window — the ONLY clear view of the eastern sky from my house — I starting keeping a camera in the bedroom. That’s also how I got all those pictures of the birds. Same window. Same camera.
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I have my camera close by the east facing window too. Once, twice bitten – now know .
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I swear, if I could just wear a camera all the time, I’d do it 🙂
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Sometimes I wish I could have a camera implanted in my eyes, connected to a computer by wifi – all I would need to do is blink – and voila – a photo appears on my computer.
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It’ll happen. Apple. They’ll invent it. Contact lens cameras with blue tooth.
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Or Google – the race is on.
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I’m putting my money on Apple for first to invent, but Google with first to make it cheap and available to everyone.
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And a lot of lawsuits in between.
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Oh, LOTS of lawsuits. Everybody from Microsoft to Samsung. Lots of rich lawyers.
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Which will then bump up the price for us consumers.
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The only sunrises I get to see are in the early winter (and, thanks to the ever expanding DST, much of November) because they coincide with my getting off work at 7:00 in the morning. I’ve seen a lot of pretty red winter sunrises… which I usually only see in the summer for sunsets.
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Sunrise, sunset … all the same. But winter sunrises are rather pretty.
Garry worked the dawn patrol shift at Channel 7 for more than 10 years. He was getting up when I was going to bed. We met in passing sometimes and had brief conversations between naps on his days off. Unless he has been up through the night for something, he abhors sunrise. It reminds him too much of work.
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You know me too well. You should after 52 plus years. Sunrise? Be away with thee. (I keep my eyes almost closed when shooing the furry kids out their door at dawn)
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How beautiful pictures!
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Thank you 🙂
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Nice radiant sun beaming into your window early in the morning. We have blinds on all our windows, I really treasure them. I don’t think that wonderful sunrise would be my thing when I am in bed.
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Sun before coffee isn’t my favorite thing, either. I keep the blinds closed. All the time, because I have dolls and I don’t want the sun to burn them … but sometimes, I peek out. Just to see what’s going on. Like, in the winter, I check to see how much snow fell during the night. And once, in March, the sunrise was so incredibly bright, it woke me up. I thought the house was on fire. That was THROUGH the bathroom shade. I took pictures 🙂
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WOW, now i don’t feel so weird. I’ve been criticized for keeping the blinds mostly closed in the morning. I too don’t often get to bed before 2AM and yes, sleeping in, enjoying my retirement is heaven, although often I get a second wind inspiration to do something at 12PM, which might include a movie.., so I’m up until whenever.
As you know the Sun lives here, in the southwest, all year round and just lashes out at the northeast off and on to remind them of his power. Even so the Sun manages to peek through closed blinds and disturb my final sleep time. The other thing is my body clock which has not learned to ignore the time and let me sleep. I try and go to bed earlier these days because of all the warnings that poor sleep habit is detrimental to good health. It’s not working very well.., unless I’m watching a movie, and then I have no trouble falling asleep. The problem begins when I wake up and drag myself to bed and seem to get back to sleep.., so I try to watch movies in bed and set the timer on the TV so that I don’t remember when I’ve dozed off, or when the TV shut down. That seems to work better.., but the danged Sun is merciless.
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Despite years of having to be up because you had to be up, you will eventually discover you have learned to sleep in. You may have to dedicate yourself to it, but I promise, you can succeed. if I can do it, anyone can.
I’m getting some new shades. Any day now. I hope they will keep the sun out better than the blinds do. That sneaky sun just finds its way around the corners and edges, underneath and around. Oddly, the problem is worse in the winter when the sun is coming from a rather sharp angle to the window. Then those probing rays of light manage to stab me right in my eyes! Drat.
We are late birds too, so we shall have a grand time in January. Garry feels that no retired person should EVER be required to get up before he damned well wants to. Okay, there are the dogs, but other than that. Alright, sometimes you have a doctor appointment or something. Otherwise, just pull the covers over your head, tuck in and go back to sleep.
He’s quite the champion 🙂
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Hey.., I just realized I have some curtains over the windows in my bedroom. They were there when I bought the house and I left them there, put ’em back up after the place was painted, but never used them. You thinkin’ what I’m thinking’..?
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Close the curtain (but first put them up)?
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Black out curtains. They help a lot. Our bedroom also has a window due East, and black out curtains keep much of that dreaded light out. I love my black out curtains.
But, even with the black out curtains, I have a 20 pound cat that knows what time he’s supposed to be fed (6am in his mind, 8am in reality) whether the sun is up or not. Let me tell you something, it’s hard to ignore a hungry 20 pound cat for very long.
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Our dogs love to begin the day with a song of joy … which I actually would otherwise enjoy. Just not at dawn. Sing to me while I drink coffee. I’m fine with that. Sing to me of the evening, of the setting sun. Just not to announce first light. Is that too much to ask?
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As an old country song says, “It’s too much to expect, but it’s not too much to ask.” ^_^
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I have a very funny photo and comment concerning this very thing. I’ll look for it and mail it to you
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I will look forward to it 🙂
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I love the sun pouring in first thing. I’m a morning person! Unfortunately my bedroom faces West(ish).
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Always wrong directions to the wrong people. I was an early rise for a very long time … before I got serious about late night movies! I eventually realized that early rising and going to be very late didn’t work together. I adapted 🙂
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Our bedroom faces the east too, but we don’t get the same spectacular sunrises you do. We put up shutters so we can enjoy the sleep in better.
Leslie
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We have blinds, but sometimes, the sun is so bright, it seeps in under the blinds and from along the edges. Especially in March and September. It must be the angle of the sun those times of year. Beautiful, but not good for sleeping!
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We got some shutters and they really black out the room.
Leslie
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I did arise at 6 this morning to do a special posting for you before the prompt came in, but alas, my computer has decided to refuse to let me download from my camera by any means, so the photo prompt didn’t contain the plethora of photos I’d intended, but still–more than one!!!! Judy http://judydykstrabrown.com/2015/06/25/re-tired/
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My body makes me get up early, but I don’t have to STAY awake. Still, I can delay crawling back under the covers long enough to take a few pictures … which make me feel that I have managed to sleep late yet accomplish something at the same time. I’ve given up chiding myself for staying up late. I apparently am not going to change my evil ways. Morning is for people who (argh!) work.
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So, photographers take the camera with them when they have to get up to use the bathroom? (grin). Beautiful pictures
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I do NOT sleep with my camera (contrary to popular rumor!) … but I do keep one in the bedroom during those times of year when the best pictures happen in the east … early. Mainly, I have to remember to bring the camera with me at night. 50-50 on that.
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