It is a very interesting experience to witness countless first-hand reactions to what is arguably my life’s work, ranging from tears to complete lack of interest.
To be fair, these “overheards” are for amusement and just to keep my ego in check. Each day I’m here, I am fortunate to hear many kind words about my work and see wonderful reactions to it. It is fulfilling beyond words.
“Is your birthday a pretty one, or is it ugly?”
“Ohhh sunset pictures, oh my goodness.”
“Oh my god, this one is so my vibe!”
“Oh this one is my dad’s birthday, but it’s sorta lame.”
“Do you have anything that says sunset? Our daughter is more into sunsets.”
“Wow, there are so many.” Her friend, “Some are good.”
“Sorry I can’t support this, I’m a sunset gal.”
“Some of these are nice pictures, yah.”
“Ugh, my birthday. All you see is a rock. It’s a Charlie Brown sunrise. Just a rock. Did you check your birthday? You still got more than I got”
“Watch more sunrises. No, watch more sunsets.”
“Oh, that’s a cute idea.”
“Watch more sunrises. Not this time of the year, in the Winter I see enough of them.”
“Mom, look at this one. It’s so good but the dead seagull ruins it.”
Person 1: “Every sunrise of 2019” Person 2: “Whoa, seriously?”
“They almost rival Arizona sunsets.”
“Oh that’s like art, better stay out of there.”
“This one looks just like a sunset!”
“This guy takes more pictures than I do.”
“Why would anyone buy that one? No offense to the person who took it, but it’s like saying ‘I’m alone in the world’.”
“That’s good, it says ‘watch more sunrises’, it should say ‘watch more sunsets’”
“He’s a pretty talented guy. He’s just pretty talented all around.” (To be fair, I’m not sure she was talking about me)
“That sunset thing over there is really cool.”
“Guys, just choose one! Choose one that speaks to you, one that calms you.”
“Sunsets are more pretty.”
“That doesn’t look like a sunrise.”
“Ewwwww. Are you kidding me? Mine is the worst one up here!”
“If they were cool pictures. Like half of them are really cool”
Person 1: “What’s this one?” Friend of Person 1: “Oh it’s ugly.”
“He literally hasn’t slept in in like three years.”
“You gotta some see this. It’s people going around the U.P. taking different photos of sunrise.”
“Is his name Bugsy or Buggy?”
“I think you may have gone a little too crazy on the sunrises.”
“Oh wow, that’s actually kinda neat.”
“That doesn’t seem like a sunrise to me.”
“Are those just postcards?” Confirms to himself before entering, “Yeah, just postcards.”
“Mine is horrible.”
“Each one is a new experience.”
“The shirt should be sunrise colors, like gray, because so many sunrises are gray, like the dead deer he posted.”
“Ooooohh my Lord, isn’t that great? That is sooooo beautiful!”
“I’m more into sunsets, that early morning thing is so…”
“Every sunrise of the year. That is … insanity.”
“Sunset pictures.” (walks away before reading anything else or taking another step further)
“This one looks like it was shot from outer space.”
“I wonder why this one is pixelated.” (Pointing to sunrise 404)
“It’s every sunrise since 2019” His mom, “Yeah, but that’s not a sunrise, it’s foggy.”
“How do you do it, do you have a camera on a timer?”
“Any [photos of the] Northern Lights?”
“Are they the same [photos] as before?” Her friend, “No, because mine was ugly before.”
“That’s a good way to live your life right there.”
“I think I read about this guy on Facebook somewhere.”
Approaches me, “Does the person who takes these ever think, ‘Whosever birthday this is is going to say this sucks’?”
“Kris, your birthday sucks!”
“Some of them look like sunsets!”
“Look at all the sunsets!”
“Oh, it’s just photos.” (Turns around before even entering gallery space)
Her, “What’s over there?” Him, “Some sweet photography?” (must not that be sweet if you’re saying that from 10 feet away and then step in the other direction toward the door)
“It doesn’t even have the sun, it’s depressing!” Comes up to me, “Mine was depressing! There was no sun in that picture, it was nothing but fog!”
“Some of these are sad.” - 10 year old boy
“You want to see one of the smartest things I’ve ever seen?” (to her friend)
“I have a dead seagull on my birthday.” (followed by laughter)
Peaks around corner, “Just pictures” she says to her husband, and walks away.
“That’s the guy that was on the Joe Pera show. Isn’t it?”
“Yoooo, this one goes hard dude.”
“The sun sometimes doesn’t rise, right?”
“The current one [for said date], there’s no sunrise.”
“The one you had last year wasn’t a sunrise,” she says to me.
“Mine’s boring, it’s just a tree in a blizzard.” I’m wondering if she was looking at December 30, 2019, an honest favorite of mine.
“So is he taking the photos with a computer or what?”
“Nope, the sun didn’t rise on my birthday.”
“Wow, look at all those sunset photos.”
“Watch more sunsets.” (it literally says watch more sunrises) “It should say auroras” she begrudgingly remarks.
“The Sunrise Gallery, [sunrise], the thing I will never see.”
“Pictures.” Proceeds to exit the store.
“Well this sucks. Mine is just a photo after someone’s car has been defrosted.”
“This needs to say ‘watch more sunsets’”
“I could take a better photo than that. Who takes these? They just… they don’t pop.”
“That’s a good one, mine sucks.”
“Do you know Bugsy?” (To Tieka) “Is he a young guy or an old guy?”
“Oh yeah, that’s the guy. A month ago he missed one and he was so sad. But he was like, it happens.”
“Both of our birthdays are not sunrises.” (yes they are)
“I don’t know if the sun came up that day.”
“Wow, that’s a kickass piece of art.”
“Holy Hannah, hey.”
“Some of these are sunsets. You see how the one next to it is a sunset? If you look at the sunflowers…”
“That’s pretty slick, some sool sht dude. There’s another one, that’s slick as sht right there. Ohh that’s cool as hell.”
“I wonder how old the photographer is, to have the name Bugsy.”
After seeing a few cards were missing, “Well he obviously missed a few.”
“Are these your photos?” Yes. “Beautiful sunset photos.”
“He’s probably right there listening and laughing at us.” (yup)
Bugsy, “That’s every sunrise of the year on the wall.” Him, “Wow, great,” and promptly turns around and walks away.
“All there is is pictures over there.”
“It’d be easier [to choose] if there were some crappy ones.”
“This is the most depressing one. I feel bad for whoever has a birthday on September 13.”
She says to me… “I don’t think I’ll see another sunset without thinking about you.” Sunset, she says.
“Oh yeah, that’s the guy who takes all the sunrise photos. I did an exchange with him on Twitter this week.” (his face proceeded to turn very red when I said I was in fact Bugsy)
“Oh! The sunset stuff is so nice.”
“Come look at this, I got my sunset yesterday.”
“Is your wife like ‘I’m going to roll over’ go take your pictures?”
“I can’t go over there, that’s the thing, I’ve seen so many. I’d like to start sleeping.”
“There he is, you can ask for his autograph. I think he’s above [more famous than] Surfer Dan now.”
Walking the door enthusiastically friends… “You guys gotta see this! This guy took photos of the sunset every day for years.”
Person 1: Are they arell from the same photographer? Person 2: Nooooo, they can’t be.
A young woman wakling her friend to the gallery, “These are kind of iconic…” (this one made me melt inside for some reason)
Holding a Watch More Sunrises button, “Do you follow that Bugsy guy?” I reply, “Yes, that’s me.” She exuberantly steps back and gasps, “Ohhhhh my god!”
Looking at the Watch More Sunrises sweatshirt, “I wish it said sunsets, ‘cuz I’m not a morning person.”
“I have to look at sunsets.”
“Yours is yucky too.” A group of women discussing the photos together
“This guy is a good. I mean he doesn’t just take pictures, he takes really good pictures.” 🥹
“He does the morning sunsets.” 😑
“They’re all sunrises and sunsets, pretty much.”
“I wish I liked waking up earlier to watch the sunsets.”
“I don’t know what sunriser means.” (Woman says with a cynical tone, emphasizer the word ‘sunriser’ on our new hats)
Me: That is every sunrise of the year. Him: “Oh, great. Wow, that is very unusual.”
“You know, I think I saw this guy on TV.” (It’s a different world since the CBS Sunday Morning story aired)
Enters the gallery space, “Generic pictures?” Promptly steps back out.
“He didn’t feel good that day, so he just took a picture of a wall.” Unsure which photo he was looking at, maybe March 6, 2022.
“Oh terrible. It’s just not a good one.” His son, “Why dad?” “This one just stinks.”
“Mine is a dead bird, are you serious?” (I saw them pick up April 21, 2020 as they said this)
“This one’s like my mom.” No idea of the context here, but it would be interesting to know which card or caption she was looking at
“Oh, this is the place with the sunsets.”
“You can never watch too many sunsets.”
“Which one do you like?” she asks to her friend. “The sunset one,” the friend replies.
“This guy is kind of a local celebrity. He’s been doing this for three or four yeras and but one morning he forgot to set his alarm and missed sunset. He was on TV for it.” Her friend, “Oh, I thought you were going to say he died.”
“We should get the friend-zoned date.”
“Mine sucks on March 3rd. Can you do better next year?” (less of an overheard and more directly spoken to me, this was the one on display)
“I wish my birthday wasn’t so hideous.”
“This guy has gotten up thousands of mornings in a row to photograph sunset”. (Yes, they really said this, but she did correct herself. This happens all the time.)
Woman confidently walks into the shop while I’m on counter duty, “Did you get a sunset today?” It was 10:56 a.m.
“How’s the sunset project going?” - Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor
“This is better than going to the bar!” ★★★★★
Husband (presumably), “Do you want to check out what’s back there?” Wife, “It’s just pictures” as they proceed to walk out.
“It can either be very cool, or very… mid.”
