Whenever I look back through old photos, I realize just how many sunrises and sunsets I’ve captured. The best ones look almost fake (or at least touched up), thanks to nature’s incredible color palette.
My best sunrise pictures capture all four seasons from dawn paddles around Narragansett Bay. Summer sunsets are almost always taken from a cockpit in some remote harbor.
There are tropical settings, too. After a salt-drenched day of racing on Biscayne Bay, I always pause to savor the clouds and distinctive colors that mark each day’s end. Even if I can’t see the sun actually kiss the horizon (Key Largo’s Upper Keys Sailing Club is the place for that), even a sliver of apricot sky above palm trees always makes me think, “lucky me.”
Why are such daily events such an important thing to log with yet another photo? In the moment, they serve as a metaphor: beginnings and endings. Later on, they will instantly take me back to each distinctive memory: a specific latitude and longitude where I paused to appreciate the passing of time.
The day’s edges mark the transition from day to night and back again, a daily example of how the earth continues to rotate on its axis no matter how much we humans mess it up. A reminder that the sun will indeed come up the next morning, and that each day will be distinct—just as each sunrise and sunset look a little bit different.
You’ve seen many of my sunset and sunrise photos already, because I use them in posts when there isn’t a more obvious image. Below are some additional early morning favorites, along with the memory each one sparks.
Got a favorite sunrise or sunset shot? Though you can’t share photos in the comments below, you can try to describe it so we can all share your moment in time and space. Meanwhile, thanks for reading and see you next Thursday—after seven more sunrises and six more sunsets.
