Shutter Sisters

brand new day

By

I am an admitted night owl.  Nights are my quiet time.  Uninterrupted time, when little ones are asleep and I can focus on things such as photography.  I thrive in the late hours.  Pushing way past any time I should stay awake,  trying to stuff so much into those few precious hours.  This makes my mornings less than easy.  I rarely greet the new day bright eyed.  Instead I shuffle out of bed, bleary eyed, and hope with all hope that I remembered to set the coffee maker the night before.  Greeted by two little early bird beauties who happen to be quite the opposite of their night owl momma.  I envy those “other people”,  you know, the morning people.  The ones who get more done in their morning before i even find the cream for my much needed cup of coffee.  Lately, due to certain circumstances, I have been up before sunrise every now and then.  I roll out of bed and into clothes I left heaped on the floor the night before, brush my teeth, and throw the nearest hat on my terrible case of morning bed head.  I grab my keys and chauffeur my teenage daughter to her early morning job.  Lucky for me it serves coffee, lots of coffee!  I could then drive home, hope that the little ones were not disturbed, and crawl back into my still warm bed with my husband.  Instead night owl me has felt an unfamiliar pull to watch the sunrise.  I take my morning self, my camera, and that cup of coffee and drive to the beach. To breathe in the silence that only a winter beach brings.  To commune with that lone seagull.  To watch the darkness give way to light and colors.  To welcome my beloved sun.  A brand new day, full of promise, possibility, and beauty.  Having these new moments of early morning solitude has really made me take pause and appreciate something I didn’t even know I was missing. 

“I’ve always liked the time before dawn because there’s no one around to remind me who I’m supposed to be, so it’s easier to remember who I am.” ~story people

Show us, how do you greet the day?  What beauty do you find in the early morning hours? When was the last time you watched the sunrise?  Perhaps today is that day.  


Comments

  2. oh goodness, you inspired me again! you are crazy good. i read this while eating my breakfast, something i don’t normally do, but it’s the holidays and things are pretty relaxed around here.

    straight away i grabbed my camera, coat and hat, went to our park across the road.

    thank you for inspiring this spontaneous action, real goodness for the soul. has set me up for our day ahead.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/xantheberkeley/sets/72157623055722230/show/

  4. Since Christmas is near, I snatched these oldies from my stream. I got the idea from some blogger. Before her kids did ANYTHING Christmas morning, they got their pictures taken. She had this great book of Morning pics when they were teens. Why not borrow it?

    Here’s the oldest:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22634402@N02/3701274743/in/set-72157621139077274/

    And the youngest:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22634402@N02/3702083780/in/set-72157621139077274/
    He wasn’t nursed yet & hated having his diaper changed.

  5. It’s only in the past couple of years have I been more a morning person. Not every day, but there are many days I wake just before the sun rises. And on those days when I peak out my window there’s a beautiful sky to greet me. Today was one of those days and I grabbed the camera, braved the cold and captured the light painted across the sky.

  7. I am not an early bird. Though I love beeing up early, but only if I had a good sleep.
    I love mornings, nevertheless. Love them.
    And I surely love my moment alone on them.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/4203411991/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/4174648776/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/4123126064/
    Or sharing with my family on saturdays and days off.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/4001348729/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliealvarez/3444947170/

  9. kristin, that is one super beautiful image. and like you i am so not a morning person. total night owl. maybe it’s a mother of small children requirement.

  10. I am and have alwasy been a morning person. My husband is a night owl. This could cause issues for some but I love the morning rhythm that I have. It used to be the quite house just me and my cup of tea or coffee. Now the baby usually is up with me. We eat our breakfast together and we have our own new rhythm. I am glad he is a morning person too- it is special to have that time before I have to head out to work and he to day care.

    Though these shots were taken a week or so ago, it was the mroning sun that drew me out to the cold snowy world.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitch_nitch/4182800100/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/glitch_nitch/4182798458/in/photostream/

  12. this makes me happy. 🙂
    I’m exactly like you…I SO envy those morning people. But no matter how hard I try I just can’t get up early…at least not happily and ‘bright eyed’. So, thank you for sharing your beautiful beach mornings with us. They’re so gorgeous. I’ll see what beauty i can find in the early morning.

    p.s. Merry Christmas!

    p.p.s. I would love to purchase a print of the ‘sun bather’ you posted on flickr recently…do you have it on Etsy? It makes me feel like i’m right there on the beach. 🙂

  17. Night is the time where we rest and think of the things that happened throughout the day and wish for tomorrow as a brand new day! And when I see the sunrise, it is a sigh of another night to wait to think and rest.

  18. just a quick note to let you know how very inspiring I find your blog to be. Thank you for the beauty, both visually and spiritually. Have a wonderful holiday 🙂

  19. How beautiful…I think we photograhers crave a certain stillness…or at least appreciate it. Your post was a beautiful reminder to us all…We are only blessed with so many mornings….life, and those beautiful sunsets, should be savoured…Cheers to that. My motto is to savour life (I’m from Canada and that’s how we spell it)…..I too started waking at around 6 to do my ‘morning pages’ and clear my mind…but catching the sunrise…that’s simply spectacular.

  20. I am not an early riser by nature, and there was a time the only way I saw dawn was if I’d stayed up until then. Now that I have two children who were/are both horrible sleepers in the early years (and at only a year and a half, my youngest is still well ensconced in these "early years") I see dawn pretty much every day. I like it, if somewhat grudgingly, once I get up and moving.

  22. I call this ‘beach therapy’. Nothing clears my head better than the beach, the salty air, the wind that comes off the water, the sound of the water, the smells and the sea birds. I love it all, and no matter what is on my mind or heart — it’s the beach that helps me get it all into perspective.

  24. i, too, am a night owl. i used to love watching the sun rise to end my day. i have had many jobs that get me up a 4 or earlier, and i love watching the sun rise with them. there’s something about having your day half done when the sun comes up :O). now i watch the sun rise from my bed, easily done since it doesn’t rise until 7:30 these days. I haven’t gone out to photograph it lately, but that might just be in order now. Merry Christmas!

  25. Such a lovely image and such lovely words. I too am a night owl. I understand. I wish I felt the desire to watch the sun rise… The times that I have, I ask myself, "Why don’t I do this more often?" Alas, I like to stay up late, and that’s that.

  26. I am not a "morning person", but typically need to be up before 5 most days. The perk of this is never missing the sunrise. I LOVE it. So beautiful.