My attempt to document 40 sunrises in Eastern Cincinnati. Spring 2011.

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Sunrise 123: Ault Park (A Murder of Crows & Krohn’s Holiday Tree Lighting)

The entrance to the Art Deco Krohn Conservatory at the end of the Holiday Tree Lighting party. Check out the parallel lines, a signature of the style. Also note the humidity dripping from the glass panels.

As I climbed up to the top of the pavilion, I realized that I could see the fog layer out across the western sky. This is a new look for the park – fog and ice!

A renewed scene at the overlook as the sun rose above the densely packed layer of fog @ Sunrise 123

The atmosphere this morning was foggy for the second day in a row. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re close to setting the record if such a thing ever existed. I could see the sunrise’s deep red glow from Mt. Lookout Square, where I stopped by UDF to get a coffee refill, but by the time I climbed up to the park the fog had blown in from from the valley. The fog started to get thick as soon as I entered the park.

The strange thing that really stuck out to me this morning was the bird activity in the park. It was almost as if today was the day that the swarms of birds chose to gather in Ault Park before heading south for the winter. I have no idea of sparrows or crows migrate, but both birds were present in outstanding numbers this morning, filling up the sky and making a whole ruckus of noise! I even have a video of the “Murder of Crows”. There were at least 100 (I took a video) crows high in the trees this morning and their silhouettes were easy to find against the bright white background and naked branches. I’ve seen a handful at a time of these giant birds at the forest’s edge looking out over the valley, but this morning the murder moved together in a loud, squaking, organized group. I could hear them even as they moved deep into the forest even though they were hidden by the fog.

Last night the wife and I visited Krohn Conservatory in Mt. Adam’s Eden Park for their annual tree lighting ceremony. It was a really great time and there was excellent food and drinks. If you’re local to Cincinnati I highly recommend joining the Cincinnati Parks volunteer program because you get to hang out with some neat people and get invited to events like this at the Krohn :). The Krohn has a neat holiday display this year. A group came in and created a miniature train display that highlights several local Cincinnati landmarks as well as a few international ones. The trains glide around the fantasy landscape that is filled with the temporary holiday flowers and plants as well as the permanent citrus trees. The Krohn Conservatory is such a great building and we’re lucky to have it!

I was happy to see the Mt. Adams Incline represented in the train display @ Krohn Conservatory!

The giant pine lit @ Krohn. If you love plants like I do, be sure to pay the Krohn as many visits as you can! Especially at NIGHT during the winter. When you walk into the dark humid tropic room as ice crystals form on the green house panels, you feel like you’ve entered another world.

The entrance to the Art Deco Krohn Conservatory. Check out the parallel lines, a signature of the style.

As I entered the park, it was obvious that the sunrise was going to be a foggy one.

If you’re on the front page, please click to continue. 17 pictures total for this morning, including the video of those crazy crows… Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  December 2, 2011 | Categories: ault park, cincinnati, civic buildings, foggy, sunrise | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Want a postcard? Send me your address!

Hi! I just got a batch of postcards from the awesome people at vista print. I’d like to send you one! I’m grateful to everyone who has given me feedback and followed along with my sunrise adventures and this is a way for me to say thank you. Everyone loves getting things in the mail, right? Email me your name and address if you’re interested and you’ll receive a hand written post card from yours truly. I’ll send anywhere in the world. Have at it! There’s a limited supply and I can’t guarantee when it’ll show up, but as long as this message is still on the homepage that means there are still postcards available. aultparksunrise@gmail.com (Please note: this post is “sticky” which means it is always on top of the front page. For the latest sunrise post, scroll down!)

Posted by  |  December 2, 2011 | Categories: cincinnati | Tags: | 2 Comments

Sunrise 122: Columbia Tusculum (Exploring in the Urban Fog, Macro Frost Crystals)

Ice Crystals!

My morning coffee spot @ the “auxiliary” area in Alms Park. I didn’t make it all the way up to the top of the hill. It is so quiet here. The perfect spot to study or swing while listening to the planes come in.

Frost crystals on a picnic bench @ Alms Park

A strange break in the clouds and fog made for a surreal sunrise at Lunken Airport

This morning was one of those rare days when both the weather and my mood for exploration aligned perfectly. I was anticipating getting up early today all week after watching the forecast closely to see when the weather was expected to break. We’ve had two solid weeks of rainy overcast mornings with only one exception, which was last friday (after Thanksgiving). I was travling to visit family so I wasn’t able to see it! I was so excited for this morning that I woke up a half hour early and started off on the bike while it was still dark and foggy. I’m hoping tomorrow’s sunrise has some surprises for me because the sunset today was truly fantastic – deep blue and teal with purple clouds and orange highlights. We’ll see! I’m also looking forward to doing “find the Christmas Lights” in the fog, but this morning was too early in the month and only a handful of homes had their lights on at 7:15am.

The weather helped support my naive theory that states “overcast and rain followed by clear sky sunrise = fog in mt. lookout”. This morning was no exception! Although I can say that I was a bit disappointed that there was no clear sunrise, I can’t pass up an opportunity to explore in the fog. This morning’s fog was thick, too, one of the thickest so far. I’m getting spoiled with these foggy days! I only had a couple in the spring, almost none in the summer, and now this is like the fifth or sixth one this fall! (you can usually check out the “fog” tag or “foggy” for more foggy posts).

So far I’ve spent foggy sunrises at Alms Park (one of my favorite posts this fall), Lunken Airfield, and Ault Park. This morning when I set out for my twilight ride, I decided that I wanted to go back to my roots and explore some residential pockets that I haven’t visited for awhile. You see, last autumn before Ault Park Sunrise was even an idea, I started my exploration of my local neighborhoods, hills, and parks on my bike. At the time of course I didn’t know I was actually training for Ault Park Sunrise. My first fog explorations was when the neighborhoods were new and unexplored and so I would creep along the No Outlets and see the beautiful homes and landscapes that Cincinnati’s old residential neighborhoods are known (because the homes and plots of land fit snugly into the hillsides so there are lots of creative designs). This morning I wanted to revisit some of these No Outlets in the fog and see what else I could come up with.

As it turns out, the weather this morning was one-of-a-kind. Normally when the fog comes through, it is in both Mt. Lookout AND down in the river basin. OR it is in the river basin alone and not in Mt. Lookout. This morning, however, there was no fog down in the basin so Mt. Lookout was covered in a low-laying cloud layer. I ended up dropping down into the basin to visit Lunken Airfield after realizing that I could get a much needed workout in. The clouds and fog had just broke and the sun was blazing through across the horizon underneath the cloud banks. It was really pretty and surreal because I could look behind me and see the hillside of Mt. Tusculum rising up from the clear streets of Columbia Tusculum and East End to disappear into the thick fog.

Here we go! Be sure to check out the fog crystal macro shots, they’re my favorite 🙂

My first “No Outlet” of the morning. A bit blurry because of the low light. I love this house and the way the gates open into the cul-de-sac.

On the way to Alms Park, I swing down Kroger Ave to check out Kroger Valley. The white fence and street disappear off into the fog. There is a home at the end of this “No Outlet” as well, but we can hardly see it in the fog.

This magnificent Oak first caught my eye in the last Alms Park fog run. That’s the neat thing about fog, it causes different patterns to emerge and make themselves present if you’re paying attention. This oak sits in the lawn of St. Ursula’s Villa.

A bit closer up. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but there is a light aura in the fog just above the horizon where the sunrise is getting ready to make an appearance. This made a perfect backlight for this oak tree’s silhouette.

Same picture as before, but with focus on the ice crystals. A chilly 22F degrees with 96% humidity!! I’ve found that biking in this weather requires a bit of preparation, but a long sleeve shirt and hoodie with insulated running pants does just fine at keeping me warm. (Plus gloves and hat of course!)

I love the frozen dew.

If you’re on the front page, click to continue! You’re halfway to the end of this article, about 23 pictures total 🙂 Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  December 2, 2011 | Categories: alms park, columbia tusculum, foggy, lunken | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sunrise 121: Ault Park & Downtown (Incorrect Forecast, Turkey Trot!)

The runners prepare for the Turkey Trot in Downtown Cincinnati

This post comes a day late as the holiday festivities have had us pretty busy! Thursday morning was, of course, the holiday of Thanksgiving. For the past two years my wife has participated in the Turkey Trot, a 10k through downtown Cincinnati that has been going on for 102 years. It’s quite an event because 15,000 people quickly come together for the race before high tailing off to their family lunches, dinners, and football games. It’s seriously impressive just how many people come out for the Thanksgiving race, the only bigger race I’ve seen in Cincinnati is the famous Flying Pig Marathon.

After a long streak of thunderstorms, the forecast had finally put the weather for Thursday morning at a confident 9% cloud cover in clear skies. There was a bit of a mishap in the forecast and what ended up happening was that Thanksgiving morning was gloomy, misty, and wet. I think what actually happened was that the clear skies warmed up the ground and there was actually just lots of FOG. But the fog lifted up a few hundred yards into the sky and simulated low-lying cloud cover. When I originally left for the sunrise, the sky was a deep dark blood red, signifying that a high humid sunrise was on the schedule for the morning. By the time I got to the park, however, it was apparent that the sky was full of fog. It was a relatively warm, wet, and dark sunrise.

Either way – Happy Thanksgiving! Today, the day after Thanksgiving, the fog has finally lifted and the skies are clear and the weather is great.

Looking out across the dark morning at Lunken Airfield from Ault Park

A dark sunrise over the Little Miami River Valley

There they go! 15,000 runners start off on their 10k

I always love the moments after any race has started, when the streets are clear and I’m free to explore around the area until the leaders of the pack make their way back to the finish line.

More empty streets. It took about 15 minutes for all the runners to funnel out across the starting line, and another 15 minutes before the first runner started to make his way towards the finish line. I’m always surprised by how fast some of these runners are!

The top of the buildings were disappearing into the fog

Posted by  |  November 25, 2011 | Categories: ault park, cincinnati, overcast | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Sunrise 120(!!): Ault Park (Clear & Frosty Cold Morning)

Sunrise 120! That’s a new milestone – 3x the original goal of 40 sunrises! For a recap, here’s Sunrise 40 and Sunrise 80.

After yesterday’s sunrise fakeout, I was excited to head up to the park this morning for the first clear sunrise of the week. The forecast was pretty much dead on – low 20s (-5C) with clear skies. I climbed up to the park about 20 minutes early and poked around by the edge of the forest to try and find candidates for some silhouette pictures against the dawn sky. I found a couple, including the lone tree by the pavilion. There was actually a couple joggers in the park this morning putting up with the cold. I bundled myself up with the usual gear: thick gloves, hooded sweatshirt, insulated wind breaker pants, and a knitted UC hat. I did, however, have one piece of extra armor (pun unintentional, but it certainly works!) this morning that made a huge difference. I borrowed the wife unit’s winter under armor shirt after her suggestion, and it really did make a huge difference. I was skeptical at first because of how thin it is (and that I can’t wear an undershirt with it!) but it really does a good job at trapping body heat and presumably releasing moisture. I felt cozy at the overlook this morning rather than miserable. I may have to get some winter gear for myself!

Coming into the park, now that the leaves have fallen from the trees, presents a very nice view of the sunrise coming over the valley.

This single tree by the pavilion caught my eye because the backdrop was much different from the first silhouette picture – more blue and white, rather than orange and purple.

The early dawn sky at Heekin Overlook over the Little Miami River Valley. This is the phrase of the sunrise that is difficult to capture accurately because the light oranges wash out to white.

Lots of upper atmospheric plane activity today. When the weather is cloudy you don’t think about how many planes are scooting along up there, but on a clear morning with the dawn light reflecting from the vapor trails it becomes apparent just how busy the sky is. I counted at least 5 in the sky this morning at sunrise, silently gliding across the atmosphere.

I was able to capture the “dawn halo” quite nicely this morning.

Interestingly enough, we can see that the sun has moved to the right of the water tower. I didn’t know if it would make it this far to the right on the horizon but it shows no signs of slowing down. Sometime in the past week the sun would have risen up exactly behind the water tower, too bad the overcast mornings hid it from view!

For the final 6 pictures, if you’re on the front page click to continue! Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  November 18, 2011 | Categories: ault park, clear skies, sunrise | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

Sunrise 119: Ault Park (The Season of Solitude ft. Marc Adamus)

Heekin Overlook @ Ault Park for Sunrise 119

By and large, this morning’s sunrise was quite a disappointment! We’ve had four days of overcast rainy and stormy conditions as the warm autumn weather has been battling for control against the coming winter cold. Last night in the late afternoon, the sky broke and we had a beautiful sunset. I didn’t have my camera on me at the time, but it was full of color and many different cloud formations that reflected the sun light for a full 40 minutes after sunset. There were also several airplane jet trails that actually cast a dark shadow against the purple upper atmospheric clouds. A friend of mine took a picture at The Ohio State University, about 100 miles north/northeast of Cincinnati, and shared it with me. You can see how I may have had high expectations for this morning’s sunrise! Brent has been takings lots of pictures of OSU’s stadium at various times of the day. Check out the gallery and the new twitter feed.

Sunset @ The Ohio State University.

This morning I had hoped that the weather held and we were going to get a sunrise similar to the sunset of last night. I would have been happy with anything! But as the sun set and the atmosphere cooled, another thick bank of clouds rolled in last night. I woke up at 6:30am, a full 50 minutes before the sunrise (I was excited!) and was disappointed when I looked out the window and saw only dark gray skies. Interestingly enough, the western sky did break for about 10 minutes on my ride home and I saw hints of a whispy blue upper atmosphere, but at the time of this writing the sky is back to gray.

The gray of the atmosphere this morning wasn’t all bad, of course. There was no sunrise, but the calm and quiet overcast mornings do have properties of their own. It was cold, being in the lower 30s, but I was dressed appropriately and was armed with my thermos of coffee. The sky was a deep dark gray this morning, a color that I tend to associate with a wet cloud system that has the potential for a downfall or, hopefully, a thick snowfall. The squirrels were highly active this morning and I caught half a dozen of them stretched out on the trunks of the oak trees watching me watch them crack open acorns for an early breakfast. The darkness of the atmosphere meant that Lunken Airfield’s lighting systems stayed lit for longer than usual, and I noticed that with most of the leaves gone from the trees already, there are more opportunities for getting a different view of the valley from atop these hills.

Speaking of winter, I wanted to share an article about the work of a photographer that I recently found from Outdoor Photographer. The article is titled The Season of Solitude and it highlights the landscape photography of Marc Adamus. Now here is a dude who loves sunrises as much as I do. He treks out into the wilderness to get some incredible landscape pictures. The pictures of course are beautiful, but his philosophy on winter is what really drew me to the piece. I did reach out to Marc to see if he ever wanted to collaborate on a sunrise post, but he’s out in the wilderness for a few weeks. Who knows, maybe he’ll get back with me? The article has made me very excited to continue this project into the winter, even if it means more dreary overcast days like today. Being from the midwest, I love snow so much and the idea of exploring the new dynamics that a sunrise-over-snow brings to the table makes me excited. One of the most overlooked properties of winter that I also like is how much is prepares us for true wholesome appreciation of spring. I don’t mean that as a stab towards winter, I mean it in the way that everything needs balance, and the seasons are no exception. Winter is a time for hibernation, preparation, reflection, and harboring a longing for signs of life. I always wait for the first true “warm” day in Cincinnati because the streets fill with people running and walking, being social, and generally full of good spirits and community. How can they achieve such balance out in California with all their “great weather” and “sunny with no chance of rain” skies? 😉 I kid. But in all seriousness, I’m looking forward to the challenges that this winter will bring especially since it’ll be even more tough getting up early in the freezing cold to bike up to the sunrise only to find that the sky may be filled with clouds. Everything needs balance, of course, so these days will only make the clear sunrise mornings that much more beautiful.

Oh! One more thing. Tomorrow morning’s sunrise is forecast to be mostly clear with a touch of clouds. Today’s was forecasted to be “iffy” so it really is not a huge surprise that there were so many clouds in the sky. I’m looking forward to the first clear sunrise in 6 days tomorrow morning, we’ll see how it goes! With high humidity and low cloud cover, this could give an opportunity for FOG and/or a slow-rising deep purple sunrise against a clear open blue sky. Although, to be fair, I’m very new to these super cold temperature sunrises so it could be something altogether different. Who knows?

The Little Miami River Valley is starting to look a bit barren!

Looking west towards Lunken Airfield we see that the lights are still on after “sunrise” under the dark atmosphere

Looking back towards Ault Park. The oaks have completely shed their vegetation and the park is mostly empty aside from a single park crew truck in the Rose Garden.

Posted by  |  November 17, 2011 | Categories: ault park, overcast | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Sunrise 118 (2/2) Special Edition: Snowman Political Rally

The Snowman’s Political Rally @ Sunrise 118

I, for one, welcome our new snowmen overlords.

As promised yesterday, this is the second part of Sunrise 118’s post.

Yesterday morning, after checking out the sunrise, I ventured into the park to see what was new. As I approached the lawn I noticed something across the way, about 80 yards on the other side of the park. Someone had gathered up a bunch of political signs and planted them together in a group. After all the local TV ads stop and the results are tallied, what ends up happening to all the political signs? Well, some of them ended up in Ault Park!

Upon closer inspection, however, it became apparent that these signs were not randomly placed about the lawn. Rather, they were all neatly organized in parallel rows, facing forward towards the set of benches. On top of one of the benches, low and behold, was a plastic Christmas snowman. As it turned out, I was the first to come across a renegade piece of art placed in the lawn of the park by some artist or group of artists. Here’s the scenario as I saw it:

  • The political signs were all organized in a tight group and each was facing the snowman.
  • Each of the political signs, without exception, were marked with a capital “V” in black shoe polish. Some of the signs were “double long” and were marked with a double V. Upon further inspection, it appears that each of the “V”s are almost identical, implying they are drawn with a stencil. Maybe spray paint, then, not shoe polish. UPDATE it was pointed out by Togie and RossTheColonol that these are not, in fact, the letter V. They’re actually stencils of a SHEEP. The sheep is looking directly at you. It’s kind of hard to tell at first, but it becomes obvious. That makes it even more powerful!
  • The snowman sat atop a bench. Care was taken so that the gravel that filled the snowman did not spill out onto the bench (a political sign kept the gravel from falling out of the bottom). There were no other signs of vandalism or damage. A respectful installation!
  • Across the side of the snowman, in big bold letters, was written “THE MAN”. The phrase was also written along the back of the snowman.
  • The snowman’s face was modified. His eyes were colored white and then small beady pupils were drawn in the center. His mouth had teeth drawn with white-out and cheek-bone lines drawn with marker. There were also wrinkles drawn around his eyes.
  • The snowman had a nice little tie around his neck that I almost didn’t catch at first.
I actually found it to be a very interesting piece. I have no idea who made it, or how much thought was put into it. Given the detail of the snowman, the tight clustering of the political signs, and the writing on each of the signs, someone out there certainly wanted it to be seen. Personally, there are several parts about the piece that I really loved. I may be extracting meaning where the artist didn’t intend there to be meaning, but I’ve always thought that relative purposeful meaning can be derived outside of the intentions of the original artist depending on the context in which a viewer of an art piece experiences the piece. Anyway, here we go. This is what I like about it.
  • I love that each of the political signs come from all areas of the political spectrum. The way they are clustered together into an “audience” to the snowman’s political rally is interesting because even though each sign represents a different “choice”, each sign is equal in the audience to the Snowman.
  • Now that I know that the stencils are “sheep”, not a “V” like an artist signature, the meaning is much more straight forward.
  • I like that the snowman is a fantasy character. It adds a bit of surrealism to the entire operation. It also makes the idea of “The Man”, an otherwise intangible and scary character, into a tangible albeit fictional figure.
  • The details on the snowman really seal the deal. His face looks seedy with a plastic smile (hah!), beady eyes, and the teeth. The tie is also a nice touch. That’s the one detail that makes me think this had some real planning behind it.
  • I like that the political signs are real. They’re taken from the urban landscape and reused to make a statement.
  • The obvious message that I take away from this is that choice is an illusion and the Snowman (“The Man”), lying behind the scenes, is benevolent in his power! 🙂 As Zach de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine said, “There is no other pill to take so swallow the one that makes you ill!”.

A full moon rises over Snowman’s political rally.

The eager audience, each “marked” with a V or double V in black shoe polish stencils of a sheep.

“The Man” himself.

If you’re on the front page: for the rest of the pictures (about 19 total), please click to continue.  Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  November 13, 2011 | Categories: ault park, clear skies | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

Sunrise 118 (1/2): Ault Park (Guest Sunrises #2 from Dayton, OH and Australia!)

First Light for Sunrise 118 @ Ault Park in Cincinnati, Ohio

The full moon was out in the western sky! I know the physics make it impossible (or, rather, they show why it is impossible) but it’d be neat to see the full moon rise next to the sun. Until I can see a sunrise in a solar system with two luminous bodies, I’ll have to be content with seeing a full moon opposite the sun in the sky 🙂

(First: Check back later – I’m running out of time for the night – for the second half of this post. UPDATE Here’s the link to the second half. I came across an unexpected, and very interesting, piece of renegade art in the park this morning. Don’t miss it! There is a sneak peak down below somewhere. It deserves a post of its own so that our guest sunrises get their fully deserved attention 🙂 )

This morning I am happy to include the second set of the “guest sunrise” posts, featuring two sunrises from Dayton, OH and a set from a fellow blogger Eremophila in Australia. We’ve gone international! (Also a quick note: all original pictures’ copyright are maintained by their respective owners. The ault park sunrise notice on each picture is just the result of my renaming / resizing script that I run all pictures through prior to uploading them to the web!)

The sunrise this morning was surprisingly warm, and the skies were crystal clear as I’ve come to expect during the Autumn leg of this project. As far as clear sky sunrises go, this one was particularly “normal” with the early dawn light starting at least 20 minutes before sunrise and the “first light” being full of bright yellow light. It seems that the foggy days are gone for now, but I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of them.

Guest Sunrise #1: James in Dayton, OH

James sent in a sunrise from his morning commute Thursday. I got it a bit later in the day so it wasn’t included in part I.

Driving North on I-75 in Dayton, Ohio. Thanks James!

Guest Sunrise #2: Eremophila in Mid North and South Eastern Australia

Eremophila was kind enough to send two sets of sunrise pictures from her adventures in Australia. The first picture is from the Mid North of Australia and the second two are from her recent move to Australia’s South East. She comments that the Mid North is quite a bit different from where she now lives in the South East.

Australia Sunrise (Mid North), thanks Eremophila!

South Eastern Australia Sunrise. I love the fog and the blue skies, what a beautiful picture.

South Eastern Australia Sunrise #2. More fog and vegetation!

Guest Sunrise #3: Mike from Enon, Ohio

Mike sent in two pictures of his early morning sunrise across his backyard along the farmlands of Enon, Ohio. Thanks Mike!

The dark early morning sky.

This looks to be just before First Light, capturing the brightest of the dawn light. Thanks again Mike!

There are 17 pictures in this post, so if you’re on the front page be sure to click here to continue!

Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  November 12, 2011 | Categories: ault park, clear skies, sunrise | Tags: , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sunrise 117: Ault Park (Featuring “guest” sunrises #1 from Cincinnati & South Carolina)

Sunrise 117 @ Ault Park

This morning I have a special edition post along with the normal Sunrise 117 pictures. Late yesterday afternoon I asked if anyone else wanted to take up the challenge to get a picture of the sunrise in their local region, wherever it may be. I received three sets of pictures from this morning’s sunrise with the promise of a couple more for tomorrow’s sunrise. Two of the sets are from the Cincinnati region and the other set comes all the way from Scott in Isle of Palm, South Carolina! Thanks Tara, Scott, & Amanda for contributing to today’s post 🙂

(update: I forgot to directly mention it but tomorrow morning I’m doing the same thing. If you’ve got the will to do so, take a picture of the sunrise and send it to me! I’ll post it here along with my normal update. aultparksunrise@gmail.com or post it to facebook, include any caption, location, or website you’d like me to include along with your picture/s. As long as I don’t get overwhelmed, which I don’t see happening, consider this a standing offer!)

The wife unit joined me this morning and took a couple pictures on her phone. The atmosphere was one of the clear sky variety, albeit with a bit of a twist. There was a low lying cloud bank that muted the colors slightly but did provide an excellent pre-sunrise show. Unfortunately we missed the pink and orange flares by about 3 minutes (and we were ten minutes early). It was probably the most social sunrise I’ve had so far, with two fellow sunrise observers and my wife along for the ride on her trusty 1983 Peugeot P18 Mixte. We were on a bit of a time schedule but if we would have stayed for another, say, 20 minutes I imagine that the sun would have poked out from behind the low lying cloud bank and lit up the sky in a bright yellow/orange palette.

Roughly 10 minutes before sunrise

Rays of light shine through, muted, behind the cloud bank

These vertical shots are actually getting harder because the sun has moved so far to the right. This time I had to zoom in to not include a branch of the oak trees that stand next to the overlook.

Guest Sunrise 1: Tara @ Voice of America MetroPark in Butler County

Tara sent these pictures in from Voice of America MetroPark, perhaps the highest point in Butler County and 25 miles north of Ault Park.

(This is actually a picture from yesterday! We didn’t get a sunrise in the cloudy overcast skies above Mt. Lookout, but Tara got lucky with a colorful display!)

“I really enjoyed watching the sun rise but peace was my ultimate reward this morning….

… To stop and look at the world and reflect on what’s important.”

Guest Sunrise 2: Scott @ Isle of Palm, South Carolina

Scott sent in some pictures from the clear sky sunrise above the sandy beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. Sunrise over there was around 6:44am, a full half hour earlier than us in Ohio!

Scott said this was his “bike” that he took to get to the beach! haha

Dawn on the beach in South Carolina

Looking North along the coast line

What’s a beach without freshly churned-up sea shells?

Just before sunrise @ Isle Of Palm, South Carolina

We can see the orange aura forming; it’ll be any second now.

First Light!

Looks like Scott got a nice low-humidity sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean (high humidity would make the sun purple and dim for the first few minutes of light). Thanks Scott!

Guest Sunrise 3: Amanda @ Ault Park, Cincinnati OH

Amanda joined me this morning on bike as we climbed up to the sunrise @ Heekin Overlook. Thanks!

Looks like I am caught red-handed in the act. Gloves, Hat, Sweatshirt, and Sweat Pants. Sneaky girl!

The sunrise behind the low-lying cloud bank over the Little Miami River Valley.

Amanda’s trusty steed. She is a 1983 Peugeot P18 Mixte. This shade of red was only made for one year. I’m always surprised at how well it shifts. Thanks Amanda!

Stay tune for, hopefully, a new set of sunrise pictures tomorrow morning. Apparently Friday is a good day for people to check out the Sunrise (although it probably has more to do with the fact that some people take Friday off)

Posted by  |  November 10, 2011 | Categories: ault park, clear skies, sunrise | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Sunrise 116: Ault Park (Warm & Clear Autumn Sunrise)

Sunrise 116 @ Ault Park’s Heekin Overlook

This morning’s sunrise was the first official sunrise post-DST. After the vibrant late sunrise from Saturday, I was excited to get to the park one hour earlier than usual. It was a bit strange, actually, setting my alarm for 6:30am when I’m used to setting it for 7:30am. When day light savings changes, most things in our lives are not affected. We still go to work at the same time, watch our TV shows at the same time, eat dinner at the same time, play softball at the same time, etc. The only thing that changes is how much ambient light in the atmosphere there is while we do our time-based routines. One could even argue that this is one of the central constructs of modern society, right? A routine based on metrics consistent with the controllable constructs of the society (time and time-based events) rather than based on the uncontrollable rise and fall of the sun.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the inconvenience of suddenly setting my alarm an hour earlier when the rest of my life really has not been affected by the hourly gain of Daylight Savings Time. The traffic was more moderate, although it was still very present, when I left for the park at 6:50am. The park itself was very quiet and peaceful, even the park crew were no where to be found this morning. The joggers started trickling in by the time I left the park around 7:30am, no doubt a result of their running schedule being synced to the time-based routine rather than a sun-based routine :). I couldn’t believe how warm it felt this morning! The temperature was, apparently, in the low 40s but it felt much warmer than that. This autumn has been very kind to us here in Cincinnati. We’ve had so many days of clear skies to enjoy the outdoors, with a handful of rainy overcast days thrown in to pump up some fog and remind us not to take these final days for granted before the Midwest Winter comes knocking on the door! My wife mentioned that last year she felt like we didn’t even have a fall because winter seemed to show up so quickly. Certainly not the case this year.

The valley was full of fog when I arrive this morning at Heekin Overlook. The fog, however, settled down in the basin of the valley and made no attempt to invade the hills.

This morning’s atmosphere was a typical autumn clear sky with hints of light cloud activity, likely left over from yesterday’s overcast morning. Could it be a sign of another overcast morning tomorrow? Typically a completely clear sky signals at least a mostly clear sunrise on the following day but a mostly clear sky with light cloud cover is not quite so telling.

Just before sunrise over the Little Miami River Valley

First Light! I’m loving these vertical sunrise shots.

An attempt at an open sky, although it looks like that tree branch in the upper right was feeling a bit more photogenic than usual.

Looking back over the months, I find it interesting to see the seasonal evolution of this tree. I never made a specific point to capture it’s leaf development, but it does make several appearances. Here it is in April with leaves just beginning to bud, and here it is in may full of green foilage.

The last few leaves hang on as Autumn marches on in Ault Park.

Posted by  |  November 8, 2011 | Categories: ault park, clear skies, sunrise | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments