Why I Wake Up Before Dawn
- Rosamond Salazar
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
Morning after morning, the same sun rises over a completely different sky. I never quite know what I am going to get. Some mornings begin quietly, with the pale blue light kissed by clouds that reflect the color of the sun as it spreads across the horizon. Others arrive dramatically, with clouds catching fire in shades of gold, orange, pink, and red. The best part of my day often happens before the day even begins, in that small window when the world is still asleep and there is simply the sky.
I started recording these sunrises because they were beautiful. Somewhere along the way, watching them became its own little ritual. I set up my phone, start the time-lapse, and wait as darkness becomes blue, blue turns gold as the sun slowly appears. Over the last 30 days, I have been learning to capture these changing moments—sunrises, sunsets, clouds, shadows, and light. Some recordings work beautifully and some do not, but that uncertainty is part of the magic. The sunrise happens every day, yet it never repeats itself.
These time-lapses have become my way of paying attention. They remind me how much transformation happens quietly and how quickly beautiful moments pass. For years, I have thought of what I do with my photographs as gathering light—collecting moments not because I can keep them forever, but because I know they will not stay. Tomorrow, the same sun will rise over another completely different sky, and I will be there with my camera. This is my way of gathering light—a few seconds at a time, one sunrise after another.
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