Grand Opening!

View in: Sunrise/Sunset

[Originally posted December 31, 2009 in the website "Journal".]

Today is the official "opening" of this website. It's still under construction - and always will be in one way or another - but it's time to open the doors to visitors. That's a bit scary, since I've not shown much of my work over the years. Today is also the first day of my retirement after 40 years in Information Technology. All sorts of new beginnings...

To mark the occasion, I've chosen a sunrise. It's one of my favorite images and, of course, has a story:

I was on my way to work one early winter morning in 1995 when I came upon this scene at an intersection a few blocks from home. Fortunate to have my camera with me, I quickly pulled over, rolled down the car window, composed and shot hand-held, braced against the window sill, with the engine still running. Within in a few minutes the light shifted and the colors were gone. Although I drove by the intersection often for at least another year, I never saw another sunrise quite like this one. Some years later I passed that way again to find that the tree framing the scene had been severely storm-damaged. I like this image for its intense color and for the reminder that my photography can preserve once-in-a-lifetime moments such as this.