Sharp-eyed bloggers may remember this theme offered by the now-defunct WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge a few years ago. I thought it would fun to challenge ourselves again by sharing our images of sunsets and sunrises as we celebrate yesterday’s solstice.

Winter Sunrise over swimming pool

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.”

Jo Walton

I scoured years of images from my Dropbox files to find a variety of sunrises and sunsets. Apparently, I capture many more sunsets than sunrises. This time of year, in Northern California, sunrise comes quite early, 5:40am! I rise at about 6:30am most days in the summer. Sunset on the solstice was 8:33pm, with last light at 9:05pm. Plenty of time to capture sunsets.

To help inspire you, I’ve chosen new and previous images of sunrises and sunsets.

Sunrises

“The secret to a good morning is to watch the sunrise with an open heart.”

Anthony T. Hincks

How about a foggy Malibu sunrise to start your day?

Malibu Sunrise

I shared a version of this sunrise from Spokane, WA in February. This was post-edited with the Painnt app.

Pixelated Sunrise

Sometimes a sunrise looks best with its light shone on the subject and reflected in the windows as depicted in this sunrise in Baja, Mexico.

Sunrise in Baja Mexico

This one shows the sunrise in the Mojave Desert near Victorville, California. We stayed with friends at their home on Silver Lake. The countless ducks enjoyed feeding on insects common with the sunrise.

Mojave Desert Sunrise

Sunsets

“Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

My sunset images have a theme…they show the setting sun over water. The first photo is the Painnt version of a sunset in the Sacramento River Delta.

Delta Sunset Painnted

Another delta image shows us enjoying a sunset paddling session near the end of summer. Notice there were no wind turbines in the nearby hills then.

SUP Sunset

In this view of San Diego’s harbor, the setting sun highlights the downtown high-rise windows and creates a gentle reflection on the calm waters of the bay’s surface.

San Diego Harbor Sunset

The final image is one of my favorites, from Hilo Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii. I called a similar image “The Lonely Fisherman.”

Sun sets on Hilo Bay fisherman

I used LightRoom to edit the lighting in this photo and added a sunflare in the post-editing process.

To sum up the idea of Rise/Set, I offer this quote by John Muir:

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

Did you know the WordPress Weekly Challenge Photo pages are still available to view? Here is the link to 2018’s Rise/Set.

Does a sunrise or sunset bring you a quiet moment? I’m pleased to link this post to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, A Quiet Moment.

What is your favorite time of day? Does the sunrise kick start your day and provide you with inspiration? Or are you an evening person who chooses to linger over a sunset with an adult beverage? Saturday’s solstice meant you had to be up very early or stay up rather late to see the sunrise or the sunset. Did you see both?

If you enjoyed seeing sunrises and sunsets, you might like these previous post:

Stormy Sunset: Sunday Stills

Friday night in Northern California was alive with thunderclouds, lightning and spectacular sunsets. I captured this from the top of the levee on Sherman Island in the Sacramento delta. This scene looks northeast toward Sacramento (an hour’s drive). Friends in town said there was lots of lightning, thunder and enough rain to get cars good…

by Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: #Early to Rise

The word “early” invokes a variety of quotes, phrases, and conditions. Let your mind run wild with these concepts of early: Are you an early-bird, an early riser, or just love being early to events?Were you highly intelligent at an early age or naïve in your early years?Perhaps you are a “later-in-the-day” person and dread…

by Terri Webster Schrandt

I can’t wait to see your favorite sunrises and sunsets!

Camera graphic

© 2020 Copyright-All rights reserved-secondwindleisure.com

Published by Terri Webster Schrandt

Now retired, I am former university adjunct faculty, self-published author, and retired recreation and parks practitioner living in Eastern Washington State near the Idaho border. Second Wind Leisure Perspectives is my blog about living a leisure lifestyle that includes fitness, photography, and fun.

75 thoughts on “Sunday Stills: The Rise and Set of the Sun”

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  2. Fabulous photos, Terri. I love sunrises and sunsets and tend to take more sunsets too, and although I’m out early with my dog I don’t take the camera, just my phone.

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  5. Lovely photos! It is way to early to try to catch the sun rise at this time of the year (03.27 where I live) so it is more likely to get the sun set at 22.16. I will try to get up really early one morning to see if I can´t catch som dragonflies before the warm up to much…

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  8. Gorgeous photos, Terri. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the single most popular photo theme is sunset/sunrise. In every part of the world, it enchants, and stops people in their tracks to view the day as it changes from dark to light to dark. Never gets old, as your many photos show, each one a beauty. i can’t even choose my favorite – all are.

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  16. Terri,
    Awesome! I have some great sunset pics, including one in San Diego very similar to yours. We’re on the road in WY, but if I can catch a good Wi-Fi spot, I’ll post them up. Loved this! Joe

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  24. Like you Terri, I have many more sunsets than sunrises for the same reason. However, that said, I find my sunrise images are truly among my favorites ever. I once said that God knows if I’m getting up for the sunrise He or She had better create some magic for me! Haven’t been skunked yet LOL Enjoyed all of your images, but the San Diego harbor is my favorite. Magical light on that one.

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  27. I’m a sunrise guy. I have lots of photos of sunrises (not so many sunsets). I’ll be publishing a few on Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday feature. I’ll link back to your post, Terri.

    On Saturday, sunrise was at 04:57 (even too early for me) and sunset at 21:37. Unfortunately, during the late spring and all of the summer, we can’t see the sunsets because of the position of where we live. We can see sunrises all year round, though (when they’re not too early).

    Have you heard of the sayings “Red sky at night….. and Red sky in the morning…, Terri?

    I think Mother Nature is at her best with the sunrises and sunsets she puts on display for us.

    Have a great week.

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    1. You must be an early bird, Hugh. I am a little, but not at 5am! We have visited areas where the sunrise is easy to see, like in Mexico, in that one shot. Since it was taken in January, sunrise was at 7am…easy to get up for and enjoy it. Is that reference to red skies related to storms? I’ll look forward to your WW post.

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      1. Yes, ‘red sky at night, shepherds delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherds are warning.’ I’m not sure it always right, but it acts as a useful guide, Terri. Sometimes, Mother Nature is better at forecasting the weather than us humans are.

        Liked by 1 person

  31. Beautiful photos! I love both sunrises and sunsets – and I do miss them in the summertime here in AK! They do happen where I live (which is relatively south for Alaska), but I’d have to be up awfully early or stay up awfully late to catch them. Since it doesn’t ever get completely dark right now, they tend to be understated. (In the wintertime, however, sunrises and sunsets are SPECTACULAR!! The alpenglow from the low angle of light is just….jaw-dropping.)

    LOL – now that I’ve waxed on about Alaska… Thank you for sharing this theme! 🙂

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  37. Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises Terri! I enjoy catching both the sunrise and the sunset. Most of the year I do that. At the moment I can’t, the sunrise was 3.27 this morning, and sunset will be 22.32. I wouldn’t get enough sleep if I watched them both right now 🙂 Enjoy your summer ❤

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  41. Oh, Terri, these might be among my favorites of your many lovely photos. I have enjoyed taking photos at the ‘golden’ hour right before sunset. We have mountains to the west of our home and the true sun SET is obscured by the mountains. But the glow above and beyond the mountains is very pretty.

    I think tomorrow might be the day I try to capture the sunrise. I have – somewhere – some photos of the sunrise reflected in the windows of neighbors’ houses. Might try to recreate that tomorrow. Hope it is an exceptionally pretty morning.

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  45. You’ve showcased Mother Nature’s ‘grand show’ brilliantly!

    The only time I manage to see the sunrise is when I am standing the 03:00 – 06:00 watch on passage. Otherwise, I just can’t seem to raise myself to enjoy it (or in the days of working, I was in the office before the sun was up). I am much more a sunset person, not only because I am awake at that time, but because I love the early golden hour light that precedes it.

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