This weekend we "Fall Back" and starting Sunday morning, sunrise will be an hour earlier than this week. June suggested we take advantage of this last week and go see a sunrise somewhere. We decided on Wednesday afternoon to take off the next day and go to the Smokies for a day trip. Being retired is nice that way.
It's a good idea to plan to be to the sunrise spot 30 minutes before the sunrise, which meant we had to be at the Oconaluftee Valley Overlook by 7:20. Even with the late sunrise, we had to get up at 4 AM, eat a quick breakfast and head on down the road. The thing about sunrises is you never know what you will get when you start out. But if you don't get up and go, you'll never get a great sunrise photo.
The Oconaluftee Valley Overlook is on the Newfound Gap Highway just south of the Newfound Gap parking area. It's a great spot for sunrise and we found several other photographers already there when we arrived a little after 7. As the sky started to lighten, we were disappointed to see solid clouds in all directions, from horizon to horizon.
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| 7:35 AM |
By 7:35 it really looked like we should have stayed in bed. The sun was to come up in 15 minutes just about in the V in the mountains. We decided to stick it out.
Right at sunrise, there was a small break in the clouds off to the south. We could see through that small opening a little of what was happening on the other side of the clouds.
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| 7:52 AM |
That was pretty much all we saw for a while, then the clouds started to break up off to the east where the sun was hiding. At 15 minutes after sunrise, the sun was well above the horizon by this time, but things were starting to happen.
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| 8:07 AM |
Then it happened! The clouds parted and the sun broke through 20 minutes after sunrise.
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| 8:10 AM |
If we had given up and headed off to find other places to shoot, we would have missed one of the best sunrises we've seen this year. We didn't get to see the Elk at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center this trip, but we saw God's Glory in the sunrise.
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| 8:12 AM |
Sunrises and sunsets are photographer's favorites. The drama of the of brilliant warm colors in the clouds and God beams shining down on the landscape is hard to beat. The skies don't always cooperate and we might think it's not worth going or waiting around. Other times we might be tempted to leave right after the sunrise or sunset. Many times I will have my tripod still set up while I watch other photographers pack up and leave. My experience says wait and see what is in store. Don't give into temptation and leave early. Sometimes the best part is 15 - 30 minutes after sunset, or in this case, after sunrise.
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