December 4, 2007
Freezing dawn
Early early this morning, I bundled up - didn't even get dressed - flannel pjs all the way - put on my sneakers, thick socks, a scarf, my down coat - and went outside with ye olde camera. I don't know - just had a feeling that something amazing was going on. The sky outside my window was dark dark blue, there was a high wind ... but I just sensed the sunrise (hidden to me, at my window) was not to be missed. It took me about half an hour to get warmed up again.
I have not touched these up at all. This is what I saw. So glad I followed thru on the impulse to leave my toasty bed, with its toasty comforter - and tromp through the frigid outdoors in my pajamas - because that was a damn fine sunrise.
This is what the world does not have enough of: willingness to leave the comfort and go through the discomfort to get to the wonderful. Thanks for sharing the wonderful.
Posted by: Eric the...bald at December 4, 2007 9:07 AMIt was indeed a fabulous sunrise - and beautifully captured, at that! The second one is my favorite - great colors, very natural.
Posted by: Ceci at December 4, 2007 9:13 AMThanks, guys - beautiful, right??
And Ceci - I'm with you - that second view blew me away. The ranks of dark clouds closing in ... they almost look breathless to me.
Posted by: red at December 4, 2007 9:32 AMThanks for braving the cold! These are gorgeous.
Posted by: Jayne at December 4, 2007 10:24 AMSun's up; due to gas.
Posted by: Brendan at December 4, 2007 11:02 AMWonderful images. It's great that you braved the weather exclusively to snap those. The massive wave of clouds in the 3rd 4th and 5th are particularly impressive, like a massive serpent is slowly dragging across the horizon.
Posted by: wutzizname at December 4, 2007 11:04 AMNice shots, I like #2 best also. The light on one side while it's still dark in the canyons on the other.
Posted by: Dave E. at December 4, 2007 2:18 PMI think I like the last one best. All that chiaroscuro complexity of elements going on...the thick clouds filling in the spaces between the buildings, while the silent golden sunrise announces itself magnificently in the background.
Also, I like seeing the old New Yorker hotel prominently featured. I stayed there for a week back in the summer of '69, and it now plays a part in the new William Gibson novel, Spook Country.
Good on ya, Sheila.
Posted by: michael at December 4, 2007 4:12 PMMichael - you have such good New York anecdotes! I love it! Isn't the New Yorker hotel the one that's now owned by the Moonies? I can feel the culty glow from across the Hudson. I won't let them get me!!
I love, too, how freezing cold the Hudson looks in those pictures. Beauty!
Posted by: red at December 4, 2007 6:28 PMSheila - You inspire me with your wonderful New York anecdotes! My summer of '69 stay at the New Yorker was part of a Broadway Show Tour taken by my high school thespian group. I had just graduated, and 10 of us had been selected to go. We saw three shows that week: Promises, Promises; Zorba (with the fabulous Herschel Bernardi); and--wait for it--The Great White Hope (with James Earl Jones in, I think, his Broadway debut). And three of us recorded an a capella version of the song Hair in a recording booth high atop the Empire State Building. What a week that was!
It appears that the hotel *was* owned by the Moonies, but now it is part of the Ramada franchise. So you are safe from their culty glow (hahahaha!). It has a fascinating histoire. One nugget: Nikola Tesla spent the last 10 years of his life there...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yorker_Hotel
How about that?
Posted by: michael at December 5, 2007 11:15 AMLove the second one, where it's dark on the left side of the frame, and it becomes lighter as you move right. The clouds, the light, the composition. Great pic!