Lurid Dawn

This picture of the sky was taken at sunrise, or thereabouts, sometime early in 2012. Judging by the naked trees, I'd guess it was probably January or February, although it's hard to be sure.

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The lurid pinks and purples of this sunrise just go to show that, while Nature is always bold and original in her celestial artwork, she is not always tasteful! It's unfortunate that I didn't manage to focus more clearly on the harsh outlines of the spiky trees, but the colours were so striking that I couldn't resist posting the image even though the trees are looking a little fuzz. Ah well, better luck next time!

Sunrise Altocumulus Floccus

Somewhere in the distance, behind the trees and dark clouds, the sun is inching its way over the horizon. Overhead, a whole bunch of cotton wool-like Altocumulus Floccus clouds fill the sky with their light, fluffy presence.

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There's something about Altocumulus Floccus (apart from having a really cool name) that somehow makes me feel cheerful and content with the world. It could could be their shape, their colour - lit from below by the rising sun in this case - or their texture. Or it could be something else entirely.

Whatever the cause, however, this batch of reassuringly fluffy cotton wool clouds was photographed very early one morning in late spring / early summer 2012.

Pink Sunrise

A cold, clear, frosty morning in early December began with this pre-sunrise image of pink clouds hanging lazily above the trees like a diaphanous veil draped across the early-morning sky.

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The colourful yet delicate patterns painted by sky, clouds and sunlight neatly offset the dark, harsh shapes of the naked trees in the foreground.

As sunrise pictures go, it may be a little insipid - although, technically, it's not a sunrise picture because the sun had not yet risen above the horizon - but I liked the contrast between the curvy, gently flowing clouds, complete with a visible structure no matter how vague, and the dark, spiky outlines of the trees that showed nothing beyond their crude shape.

Suburban Sunrise

This sunrise picture was taken early in May from the corner of a suburban street that clings to the side of a steep valley. The corner lies at the top of the hill, and the street drops away sharply as it descends into the valley - hence, each successive house in the foreground appears to be lower than the one before it.

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This arrangement left a clear view across the valley, obstructed only by the dark outlines of overhead telephone cables, to where the very early morning sun was making its first appearance above the distant hills as it burned a brilliant golden hole through the clouds.

The pale blue sky contrasted nicely with the pinks and golds of the clouds, creating a sense of calm that offset the dramatic brilliance of the sunrise and the sharp outlines of the sleeping dwellings in the foreground.

For all I'm not fond of early mornings, I'm coming around to the idea that sunrise photos have a dramatic potential that is not often matched at other times of day. Shame it has to happen so early!

PP

Sports-field Sunrise

Goodness me! It's been a month since I last had time to update this blog, but that doesn't mean there's been any lack of material to post! Far from it, in fact - I've been busy snapping pictures of the sky at every opportunity. Yesterday, I finally got around to transferring the images from my camera to my computer, and I'll be updating this blog with some of the more interesting sky photos over the next few days.

So, to start the ball rolling, I've chosen this sunrise picture taken a few days ago at my local sports field. As I've mentioned before, morning - especially very early morning - isn't my favourite time of day, but sometimes it can't be avoided. On this occasion, I was up and about at around 5 AM on a May morning, and noticed that the pre-dawn sky was taking on a most interesting reddy tinge. Before long, I found myself standing in the middle of a deserted sports field, trying to get a clear view of the horizon as the sun rose above the distant hills - much the dismay of a group of wild rabbits, who, I gather, are accustomed to having the field to themselves at that time of day!

Despite this unintended bunny-bothering, I was able to grab a few sunrise pictures as the sun crept above the horizon. I was struck by the coppery shade of the sky around the rising sun, and the almost golden tint to the strands of Cirrus fibratus clouds hovering above the trees.

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Of course, these colours don't last long, but they are one of the things that makes sunrise photos worth the effort of early-morning activity!

PP.

Contrail Dawn

Today's post probably doesn't qualify as a sunrise picture since it was taken a little while before sunrise on a March morning in very early spring - note the outlines of new leaf buds on the silhouetted tree branches at the top of the picture.

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The red light in the distant clouds shades gently to pink and then up to a delicate blue above the distant trees, contrasting nicely with the silvery chalk-mark of an early morning contrail heading into the new day. Even without the sun itself, the returning daylight paints a striking picture of light sky and dark outlines that caught my eye while I was waiting for the main event (sunrise).

PP

Sunrise

Sun rise pictures are something of a rarity on these pages, not least because, by definition, they happen early in the morning, and I'm not one of life's morning people - when it comes to pictures of sunsets and sunrises, I'm far more likely to take the former than the latter! But sometimes mornings are unavoidable, and when that coincides with the right conditions, we get images like this:

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This sunrise picture was taken on a cold, largely clear morning in early March, as the sun crept above the layer cloud beyond the distant hills. The dark outlines of leafless trees serve to frame the burst of brilliant colours on the horizon, filling the sky with yellows, golds, pinks and blues. If they're all like this, maybe I should try to see more sunrises!

PP

Golden Sunrise

Today's sky photo is one of several sunrise pictures I snapped early this morning at a nearby playing field. Early morning is not my favourite time of day, hence there are likely to be far more sunset pictures than sunrise images posted here. But, since I was awake anyway, and the pre-dawn sky looked promising, I took myself off to the field and lurked suspiciously in the early morning gloom until the sun inched its way over the distant hills.

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Neither my photographic skills nor my camera can do justice to the breathtaking blaze of golden light that lanced along the horizon, edging the dark clouds with brazen fire. Until both improve quite bit, however, this sunrise pic may be as good as they're going to get!

PP