Bitter Sunrise

"The sun seems to sit on top of the frozen lake, the icy winds scratching the surface of the hard snow. Can you hear it crunch?"



Bitter Sunrise was taken in January of 2011 at Asylum Bay Park in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The year of 2010-2011 was the period where I was developing my compositional style while earning a few shekels while doing assignment photography. Winter in Wisconsin is particularly fickle, so in preparation I bought snow pants. At the ready is my camera and a thermosfull of steaming coffee flavored with Irish Cream.

Heaven in a cup I say.

During the morning of January 30th, it was 12 degrees. The sky clear with the exception of a thin layer of cirrocumulus clouds. The wind was pretty rough at times. The bitter cold is even more noticeable on the frozen lake, where sharp drifts formed in straight lines as a result of the cutting winds.

Luckily, the sunrise here is around 7:15 am. In fact, there is about a 15 minute difference with sunrise times from the beginning of January versus the end of January. The interest in watching the sun rise is in the knowledge that you literally are witness to a new day being born. Not sure if it makes one a Time Lord, but it's still a neat moment.

The original shot was somewhat a big sky type of scene and found that a severe crop really helped to focus (correctly) on the sun appearing to be sitting on the ice, next to a couple of what could be cosmonauts. Applied "Matt's Cutting Edge" preset and voila! By the magic of Lightroom, I was able to propel the viewer into the lunar surface.