Weekly photo challenge: The Golden Hour

When I read the weekly photo challenge to take a photo at the golden hour of sunrise or sunset, I thought, well, I already know about sunset light, so why not make an effort to study the light of sunrise.  But to do that I’d have to get up at sunrise on Sunday.  I had no intention of doing that.

Then, this morning at ten to seven, after six hours’ sleep, I woke to see my room suffused with pink.  At first I ignored it.  Too tired.  But I dared to open my eyes again a few minutes later and the light in the room was tinged with reddish purple.  I jumped out of bed and raced to find my camera, knowing that coloured light is fleeting.  You can see that I took the first photo at three minutes past seven – it took me that long to get ready for my cold back yard.

The official sunrise time was 7:10am, but Canberra was pretty in pink before that moment.  Not really a ‘golden hour’; more of a ‘rosy hour’.  When the actual moment came at 7:10, the pink glow had mostly gone, faded to grey.  It’s mid-winter here;  the temperature was about 6 degrees, a few degrees warmer than usual for this time of morning; the sky today is completely covered.  I know the sun was behind these rosy photos but I never saw it.

Sunrise, Canberra, 14th July 2013, three minutes past seven
Seven minutes before sunrise, Canberra, 14th July 2013, three past seven
Five minutes before sunrise, Canberra, 14th July 2013
Five minutes before sunrise, Canberra, 14th July 2013, five past seven
Exact official moment of sunrise, Canberra, 14 July 2013, ten minutes past seven
Exact official moment of sunrise, Canberra, 14 July 2013, ten past seven

6 Replies to “Weekly photo challenge: The Golden Hour”

  1. Sunrise really is the best time of day. I’d choose to see it every morning – if I could just go to bed earlier. Glad you like my photos.

  2. Nice take on the theme , count down,, and good pictures to boot.. our sunrise in the UK at moment about 4.45am ish’ 😉

  3. It’s summer here – and it is still greyish … since 6 am 🙁
    Love your winter-photos – the birds in the tree entered their stage just in time 😉

  4. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you noticed the birds… I took a photo of them flying in, but it wasn’t as good as the one I posted. Let’s both hope we see some blue skies soon!

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