Sunrises and sunsets come in many forms, but whatever form they take and whatever location they grace with their unique beauty, they are my favorite times of the day.  Partially, it’s because I love the solitude… there are seldom any other folks around at that time of day, except of course, the maintenance crews on the golf courses I photograph.  But even without the solitary aspect of shooting a sunrise, it’s still my favorite time of day. 

At sunrise, everything is new.  It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday or last week.  It doesn’t matter what will happen later in the day.  For that brief time, everything is fresh, and the possibilities are limitless.

I think my deep affection for sunrise and what it reveals about my subjects is one of the reasons my work is different from that of other golf course photographers.  Every photographer knows the "Golden Hour"... that brief 30 to 60 minutes after sunrise and before sunset... is the best time for landscape photography. But for me, the richest, most beautiful time to shoot is the transition itself. It's a bit more challenging to capture the full spectrum of light and still hold the detail in the shadows, but the effort is well worth it. 

At sunrise, the sky becomes something larger than its usual role as negative space, source of sunlight or element of interest.  It becomes the dominant feature.  The sky is never as spectacular as it is at sunrise or sunset, and during that brief span of time it reveals a side of a landscape… or a golf course… that is unique to the instant the photograph is taken.  The landscape changes little from day to day.  The sunrise is as unique as a snowflake.  

If you are a fan of sunrises… even if you see very few of them… I think you might like my gallery, Magical Transitions. (http://galleries.davesansom.com/p574896719)   The gallery includes not only sunrises on golf courses, but also in national parks, state parks and farmland across the country.