Blogfinger

Ocean Grove, a monochrome morning.  Sunrise.    By Paul Goldfinger  Undated.  Click to enlarge, but why bother?

Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net

I am not fond of sunsets, photographically speaking of course.   I mean, after all, we must have sunsets.  But, admit it, they are very repetitive.  That is unless there is context. If you are a spiritual person you could see something different every time.

100 years ago Alfred Stieglitz began photographing clouds. He called these images “Equivalents” and he saw something different in the abstraction of each photo.

With sunsets, for example, you could be at Key West, Florida,  where everyone in town goes to watch the sunset.  And there you might see a blond in a baseball hat turned backwards making pop corn, or you might spot a guy blowing fire (His girl friend calls him “Hot Lips”,) or you could be on the beach with a glass of wine, in which case the sunset takes on extra meaning. So sunsets can be seen as each one is different and that is why some viewers find them fascinating every time.

But I still like sunrises best.  Maybe it’s because most of us get to see them so rarely. By the time you roll out of bed, the show’s over. But I think it’s more than that.

The lighting of a sunrise seems to have a magical quality. It is a symbol of rebirth; and no matter what has happened on earth: discovery of fire, Huns invade Europe, Jews invent matzah-ball soup,  the Romans conquer everybody, and so many other amazing events, nevertheless, the sun always rises   (or is it, “the sun also rises?)

So, Eileen loves to ask “why questions.”  Like she’ll probably want to know why I was on the OG beach to make this photograph.   But, to tell the truth, I have no recollection about this image. I have nothing to explain.

It’s sometimes interesting  to hear a photographer discuss a photograph, but it’s also nice to just look at the image  and get what you can from it.   In the case of this sunrise, you can ask why or you can look at the picture and reflect on the view. That’s how Ansel Adams saw nature.

So for those of you who don’t often get to see a sunrise, here’s one from our very own beach in the Grove.  —-Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net.

PHIL OCHS   “Changes”

"Moments of magic will glow in the night
All fears of the forest are gone
But when the morning breaks they're swept away by
golden drops of dawn, of changes."

COMMENT FROM GROVER ARTIST/PHOTOGRAPHER CARL SWENSON:

“I like sunrises, too. Insomniacs see more than their fair share.”

Sunrise in Ocean Grove by Carl Swenson. (cardsbycarl.com)

BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA     “Chanson de matin; Op. #15”  (Song of morning)  by Edward Elgar, British composer.