I tried to capture a sunrise a couple of weeks ago and for
my efforts I was rewarded with a thick blanket of gray fog that stretched
across the horizon. Bleak and damp I
thought my chance to capture a sunrise at the Isenberg Crane Reserve this year
were all but gone. Standing in the chilly morning air today I was greeted with
one of the more majestic sights that has passed before my camera. A glorious sunrise crept up from the clouds
to wake sleepy cranes at the wetlands outside Lodi.
I have been making this an annual event for the past couple
of years. The sandhill cranes migration
puts them in the wetlands from late October through early February. I have make a trip in late October to capture
a sunset arrival of the cranes for their evening roost then shoot for a
December visit for their morning departure.
My sunset arrival was a piece of cake but the sunrise
departure has been a long time coming. A
foggy first attempt had the cranes lost in a gray mist that made photography
near impossible. I tried a couple of
more times but one thing or another got in my way and I never made it out of
town. Saturday morning I awoke early to
find a thick fog covering Tracy. I
rescheduled for another try this morning.
When the alarm went off around 3:45 a.m. a quick look outside showed
excellent visibility. A quick shower,
four cups of coffee and I was heading up Interstate-5 in the darkness to the
wetlands.
I pulled into Isenberg a little after 6:00 a.m. Honestly it was a little creepy to be in the
middle of nowhere in pitch darkness with just the sound of cranes echoing in
the air around me. Dawn was scheduled to
break at 6:45 a.m. and sunrise at 7:15 a.m.
As my eyes grew accustomed to the dim light I could see the first
inkling of light to the east illuminate a cloudbank as stars twinkled
above. I struggled to assemble my tripod
in the dark and took a few time exposures capturing the pale light and stars.
As dawn drew close the colors began to shift. The deep indigo of the sky paled quickly as a
red hue crept in. Yellow and orange
began to mix in the clouds that sifted across the horizon. A checked the time and with about three
minutes to the beginning of dawn the sky really began to transform. Bands of yellow and red appeared above a line
of trees masked in a deep blue haze. It
wasn’t foggy but it looked almost like a mist was behind them as they stood on
the horizon.
The wetlands were changing now too. The activity of ducks and geese crossing the
surface increased but the color of the water was changing. At first it was like a mirror reflecting the
deep blue of the sky but with the dawns approach it tinged from pink to yellow
to a deep orange as the sunrise drew near.
Silhouettes crossed back and forth gliding across this shimmering reflection
of the sky.
It seemed like it was getting colder as the sky grew
brighter, My feet were freezing standing in the damp grass and my hands were
numb from holding on to the camera in the early morning air. I checked the time again; it was well after
7:00 a.m. just a few minutes to sunrise.
I had been shooting pretty regularly since I had arrived at
the wetlands so I took a few minutes to just watch the sky. Hands in my
jacket’s pockets to try and revive some feeling I stood shivering waiting for the
first sight of the sun. Then I saw it,
those first telltales sign it the moment is about to happen. To the east I could see the colors grow
brightest in one spot where the sun would appear but now a red line sliced into
the clouds. It was a dull red at first
but then turned a fiery red, cutting a small arc above the distant tree
line. Almost like a scout it marked the
suns path and maybe a minute later the line grew as the sun inched above the
horizon.
There was a line of clouds and I figured it would be hit and
miss to see the sun as it climbed the sky against them but the first sight of
the sun was a bright red orb against the blue gray mist of the horizon. Once it started it happens quickly, marching
upward into the sky. The sun passed
behind a cloud and emerging the other side the red glow changed to a yellow and
orange light that lit up the cloudbank nearby.
The wetlands reflected the new colors as the bright glow
echoed across the water. The sun’s disk
clear of the cloud now shone a deep yellow and the water ripples sparkled this
new color. A reflection of the sun
seemed to go all the way across the water cutting a blazing path of yellow
across the dark banks. Colors were
changing fast now as the clouds colors changed from red to orange and then a
yellow cast into the distance.
The sun climbed higher and my early morning colors ebbed
away. I looked at the time it was just
about 7:38 a.m. My sunrise lasted just
under 20 minutes. It didn’t seem that
long but I was entranced with the shifting light and the spectacle of colors. I had finally captured my sunrise.
There didn’t seem to be that many cranes flying, but that
didn’t bother me. I was content to
capture the sunrise’s light display across the clouds and water. I honestly think it was one of the most
beautiful sunrises I have seen. It is a
treat to watch it rise from the early morning darkness of a star filled sky to
the fiery glow of cloud filled sky at dawn.
It was well worth the effort and a memory to treasure for sure.
