Sunrise No. 172 of 2,000+
- Sunrise time: 5:57
- Azimuth: 54° ⇡
- Did the sun rise: Yes
- Was the sun visible: Oh yeah
- Felt like: 47 ºF
- Air Temp: 48 ºF
- Humidity: 79%
- Wind: 3 mph ⇡
- Wind gust: 2 mph
Exposure
- 21mm
- f/18.0
- 1/15 sec
- 50
County Road 510, Negaunee, MI
7.1 mile commute
📍 46° 33' 29" N, -87° 32' 46" W
Musings [786 words]
Summer solstice. For this year, during this sunrise project, this has been a date on the calendar I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
There are few projects I’ve taken on that have had such a clear milestone for its halfway point. The only one that comes to mind is when I arrived in Baton Rouge in March of 2007. Louisiana was the 25th state during the Hometown Invasion Tour. In fact, other than completing the darn thing, it felt like the biggest milestone along the way. However, that day in 2007 didn’t go so well, and became a low point of the trip. Thankfully, today is shapping up to be a pretty fantastic to day so far.
Frankly, when I started this sunrise thing, I wasn’t sure I’d get this far. When I committed to this it felt like a ridiculous and crazy idea. Now it’s just part of my daily life and I find myself questioning why hasn’t this been done before? Why aren’t other people doing this all over the world? Imagine a professional photographer with updated equipment doing this project, or a world explore, or someone who has a little more variety in their life, or someone who is comfortable photographing people, how cool would that be? But alas, where I don’t have great photography skills, equipment, or people skills, I do have ambition and focus. I don’t know where that willingness comes from.
I felt I might have something more profound to say today.
Now I find myself thinking, Dec 31 is going to come too soon. At this point I find myself daydreaming about keeping this going into 2020, but next year it will be called Year of the Hindsight.
More to come later…
…
Really, the only reason today was such a milestone was so I could start sleeping in little by little each day. I mean it’s not the literal halfway point afterall. But now that it’s here, I don’t want to sleep in. I am fully invested and love this new routine I’ve found, it just works.
Round II, try again…
Happy Summer Solstice!
Halfway through, these are some of the themes that summarize the first six months.
…
When I started this sunrise thing in January it was on such a whim that it almost felt like a bad idea. It seemed a little ridiculous and very daunting. Now it’s just a part of my daily life and I wonder, why is nobody else doing this?
I have been pouring over the internet trying to find someone who has done this. I simply can’t find anything similar, which annoys me. Why isn’t a professional photographer doing this? Or how about a world explorer? Or someone who has more writing skills? Imagine how epic of a project they could make this whole project.
It brings me to this question, what are you willing to do that nobody else is? Maybe you’re already doing it, I hope you are.
…
Since January, I’ve seen this as the half-way point of this journey. But really, the only way I felt it was such a huge milestone was so that I could start sleeping in again. Now that it’s here, I don’t know if I care to sleep in anymore. I still stay up late, but for the first time I have the flexibility to create this beautiful little schedule that works for me.
…
If my New Year’s resolution was to “get back into photography” it would have never happened. A resolution needs to be more deliberate and precise
…
A bright colorful orange and purple sunrise is not inherently more valuable than a gray and cloudy sunrise. And just because you didn’t see the sun, doesn’t mean it didn’t rise.
…
For many, the experience of a sunrise or sunset is a matter of happenstance. Often, it’s just something that happens on a commute to or from work. But when we’re deliberate in seeking nature, something happens, something changes.
There are are 193 sunrises and 194 sunsets remaining in 2019. I don’t care if you have a camera or a pen, but I hope you’ll be deliberate in seeking many of them.
…
Happy birthday Mom! You and grandpa are the reason I ever picked up a camera in the first place. I remember how you always wanted to catch the sunset at Oval Beach on our trips to Saugatuck, and how you’d have to drag me to a waterfall every mother’s day.
Well, I guess it worked. Thank you.
Overheard at The Crib coffeehouse literally while writing this…
“Whoa, I forgot it’s the longest day of the year. I should have been up for sunrise.”
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