People watching

Shoutout to the early-risers. As I type these blog posts out on (weekday) mornings, I greatly enjoy the view out of the window of people who are up as early as I am (about 6:30 AM is when I begin typing). Some are on their way to a slogging commute, and others are simply walking their dogs. Whatever the reason, it’s a kindred spirit of people who wake up early, an empathetic bond.

I just wish some of them would get their heads out of their smartphones. Look around! Take in the morning air! Listen to the birds!

The quiet hours in the morning radiates a calm that I relish very much. The theatre of the color change as the sky turns from dark to light is rather magical. It’s best observed with a cup of coffee, or whichever morning beverage of your choice. The only trouble is getting up early, because it means going to sleep early as well. I’m lucky to have a choice; I have two hours to myself before I even have to think about leaving for work. Kudos to those who must get out of bed at an ungodly hour because of work. You folks are the true morning warriors.

Yesterday’s morning sky was slightly ominous as there was an orange tinge to the morning sun. Alas, the smoke from the wildfires burning to the east have finally made their way to our coastal enclave. In what has sadly become a yearly tradition, wildfire season brings horrible air quality to much of northern California. Good thing we’ve been accustomed to wearing masks, thanks to the COVID pandemic. I guess it’s time to mask back up whenever I’m outdoors again.

Somewhat coincidently, my Coway air purifiers alerted me to needing to change the odor filter. In the process I’m reminded of how important it is to have this purifier, because the HEPA filter - not due for a change for another six months - already looks kind of horrible. It’s definitely doing the job, and I’m counting on this thing to get me through fire season and beyond.

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Morning, California.

Magical sunrise

As someone who tends to wake up rather early in the morning, I for one am looking forward to daylight savings time ending this Sunday. Right now when I get out of bed at 6AM, the sky doesn’t even begin to get brighter until an hour later. I resort to turning on the desk lamp so my body would know it’s actually time to wake, rather than it’s still the middle of the night. Turning the clock backwards one hour will sync up perfectly with my sleep schedule, with the sky beginning to turn lighter just as I end my slumber.

And then obviously I hope they never institute daylight savings time again, because jumping forwards one hour in March is always a tiring experience, like giving ourselves artificial jet-lag for no bloody good reason.

That said, it is something special to awake before official sunrise time; looking outwards through the window and seeing the sky do its magical transition from absolute darkness to intense bright. The mightiest object in our solar system creating the biggest shift change to planet is at once awe-inspiring and meditative. The sunrise phenomenon puts things into perspective, of just how tiny and powerless we are against the might of nature, unending for billions of years. So perhaps that small annoyance that’s been bothering me suddenly doesn’t seem to bad after all.

I am lucky to have a bedroom window that faces east, so I get to watch the sunrise and enjoy its delightful light shift every single day. It’s something I’ll miss when I move out at the end of this week, to a spot where the windows faces west, but it’s on the ground floor so it isn’t high enough to see the sky without a crane of the neck.

I shall relish these moments while I still can.

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Empty autumn campus days.

Landscape photography involves a lot waiting

The branch of photography I participate in is landscape photography, and the name of the game is waiting. Lots of waiting. To get the best light, to wait out strange weather patterns, and even the general public getting out of the shot, a hearty dose of patience is prerequisite to doing landscape photo work. 

And that can get tiring indeed.

Everyone knows the best light is the hours around sunrise and sunset: blue hour and golden hour, respectively. Getting shots during golden hour isn’t a problem because I’d simply stay out as long as needed. Blue hour however is slightly more difficult because the I'll have to break my circadian rhythm. Bad enough that sunrise is wicked early in the morning, but you have to factor in travel and setup time in addition to that, so obviously there's not going to be much sleep. 

In the trip to Korea last year, in order to get a sunrise shot up on this crater, we had to wake up at 3am because it took an hour to get to the location and another hour to hike up the mountain. Exacerbating the situation it was summer so blue houra was quite a bit earlier than it would’ve been during winter. Well worth the effort but I’m not sure I can do that constantly: I value a proper night’s sleep above a lot of things. 

So golden hour it is for me. 

Then I would pray the weather gods cooperates. This past weekend we wanted to take some sunset hour photos of the Golden Gate Bridge but San Francisco’s famous fog spoiled the party. The entire ocean-facing side was covered in clouds, not giving the sun rays a chance to poke through. Were I adamant about capturing this I would’ve needed to return another day under more favorable weather. 

It’s super time involving, but I love the solitude and peace when I’m out in the field, especially away from the bustle of the city. Something about setting up shop somewhere, music in my ear, and waiting for the perfect moment to appear before the lens: it’s thoroughly meditative. 

Perhaps instead of planing to buy another sports car I should instead purchase a rugged SUV and go overlanding for landscape photos. A thing to think about. 

When the sun isn't cooperating you go long exposure with an ND filter.