At the beginning of the year, a friend of mine shared a story on her Facebook page about a man who experienced and photographed an entire year of sunrises - all 365!

It got me thinking.

I am not a morning person - I wake slowly and find it hard to get myself out of my comfy bed. I knew there was no way I could ever get up for sunrise every single day of the year. Well, if I really had to, of course I would, but I didn’t really want to. However, I thought, I could probably do a weekly sunrise. That’s doable, right?

So, early in January, I decided to give this a try. I set a goal to shoot 52 sunrises in 2020, one a week. I didn’t tell anyone besides my husband that I was going to do this. I wanted to be sure I would stick with it! Here we are, the end of February, two months in and I’m still on track! My plan is to try for “Saturday Sunrises” - this way, I have a set day to go out and I get what I get, and I’m not just cherry picking good sunrise days. That means, not every sunrise or image will be spectacular and it gives me a challenge to find some way of photographing the morning either way.

I am keeping notes on each sunrise - location, weather, challenges etc.

Here are the first 9 weeks! Because I started a little behind, I made up the difference while on vacation in Maui, where getting up for sunrise was a little less of a challenge.

Sunrise #1 was freezing cold but beautiful

#2 was a bit of a bust, until the sun got a little higher

#5 Ulua Beach in Wailea from above using the drone

#6 The sun rises over Mount Haleakala in Wailea

#7 Back to snow and cold at home - this was a very lacklustre sunrise

#8b - looking to the West as the sun lit the Rocky Mountains

#9 Very short lived appearance out in Mossleigh, AB

So, there you have it - I have put this out there to the world. I guess I’m accountable for the rest of the 43 weeks!

Thanks for looking!

Santa brought me snowshoes this year! A friend and I headed out last week to some local trails not too far from the city that I didn’t even know existed! It was a much needed nature break. I didn’t take very many pictures, I didn’t want to bother my friend, a non-photographer, with my constant stopping. She is very understanding, however, as her husband is also a photographer.

When we arrived and started getting our gear ready, the snow started to fall in big, fat, soft flakes. The best kind of snow!

After a while the snow slowed and mostly stopped. The trails were quite compacted, so snowshoeing was loud when we were in motion. We’d stop every now and then to rest, soak up the view and enjoy the silence out in the woods. We never saw another person out on the trails, though there were numerous vehicles in the parking lot. Some were cross country skiing, some were “fat biking” (bikes with very large tires that can be ridden on snow), some just walked their dog out there. There are different trails for different activities with tracks laid for cross country skiing on those trails.

I was astounded that I didn’t know about this trail system and I look forward to going back in other seasons to explore a bit. I could see that under the snow in some places were open meadows and wetlands. A day out in the trees and fresh air is just what I needed! Spending it with a friend was the icing on the cake. I look forward to exploring this new found area some more.

The Serenity Project is a collaborative photography project featuring images that bring a sense of peace and calm. Please continue our circle to to see what has brought my friends serenity this month.

Next in the circle is Ohio photographer, Eileen Critchley .

Click the link to see what serenity looks like for her this month!

Thanks for being here.

52 Sunrises in 2020 - January and February

January Serenity Blog Circle - New Year, New Activity

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All photographic images are copyrighted to Lori McLellan