Chasing Sunrise

‘Watch a sunrise at least once a day’

-Phil Dunphy Modern Family

In the wise words of Phil Dunphy (aka the best written TV dad) you should try and watch a sunrise at least once a day; obviously this is slightly wayward in that you can only ever watch one ‘real’ sunrise a day; however I think the sentiment remains and it is for that reason I have made it my 2022 goal to travel to the same location once every month specifically watch the sunrise (and eat a bar of chocolate!)…

But why? Why bother doing this, what goal or purpose does this realistically serve other then being inspired by a random tv quote? Well, I didn’t actually start out with the intention of going every month, it started January 1st (or rather I decided to go December 31st) as my usual New years day tradition was not feasible (an annual visit to the local zoo, with the aim of being the first visitor in the zoo) however, this was not possible due to it being closed for maintence /rebuilding so I had to find something else; which led to remembering the tv quote which led to getting up at 5am to go see the sunrise.

Now, I’m not going to lie, January first sunrise was not the vibe- it was extremely overcast, foggy and there was absolutely no sunrise to be watched in any direction. However, the cheer novelty of getting up crazy early, packing up a picnic breakfast, driving in the dark, all to sit on a huge rock in the national park was exciting. And I guess, the idea /a determination that I needed to keep revisiting the location until I saw the perfect sunrise stuck, because a little under three weeks later I returned to try and see a good sunrise. Again however, i was met with no luck and obviously i could not feasibly travel up everyday until I saw a sunrise so a plan was formed to go at least once a month, in the hope that at least one visit would lead me to a beautiful sunrise.

Benefits:

Aside from the novelty of the whole experience, I have also noticed some benefits to watching the sunrise once a month, which I hadn’t considered previously:

-Reflection and Relaxation: I have found that travelling to the same destination and watching (or at least being there) when the sun rises is relaxing and meditative as an experience; it kind of follows the principals of no matter what happens, I know the sun will still rise over that same landscape everyday and that I can repeatedly go back and watch it over and over. Furthermore, i have found something therapeutic in just sitting in nature (even if it is slightly chilly) for an hour or so as the sun rises.

-Good opportunity for a project: As I have made a commitment to watch the sunrise in the same location every month, I decided I would also take the opportunity to use every time as a way to practice my sunrise photography/photograph the same location in different sunrise conditions as a sort of scrapbook of sunrises.

Conclusion:

So, far I have watched 4 sunrises in the same location, the latest being just this morning when I finally got closer to a ‘perfect sunrise’ with no fog and only partial cloud coverage. I will of course keep you updated on my chasing sunrise project and maybe at the end of the year I will do a recount of the best and worst and choose a new location for 2023!

To check out my photographs from the chasing sunrise project head over to my Instagram for a dedicated highlight, you can also check out the time-lapse of each sunrise on my YouTube channel here!