Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean

My wife Dorothy joined me on a trip to south Florida and she was instrumental in seeing that we stayed in a beautiful hotel with an ocean view. Truth be told, it wasn’t a hard sell. In as much as I needed to sleep in after getting up at 3AM for our flight from Chicago, it seems that my internal clock woke me so that I wouldn’t miss the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. There was an oil freighter anchored offshore that became an additional graphic element to include in the images.

sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean
The freighter is almost silhouetted by the faint glow of the sunrise. Larry Shapiro photo

I began when the sun was below the horizon line casting a bright orange glow through a partly cloudy morning. Anyone that’s ever watched a sunrise knows that it’s only a matter minutes or sometimes seconds before the scene changes dramatically.

panorama of a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean
This panoramic image shows the vast array of clouds which appear to disperse the light. Larry Shapiro photo
golden sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean
Though the heavier clouds right along the horizon line could have totally blocked the visibility of the rising sun, they instead created a frame to contain and shape the emerging light, Larry Shapiro photo

Before I knew it the sun was visible and cast a vibrant reflection along the water that appeared to be aiming at me.

golden sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean
Just after the sun broke the horizon, there was just a minute or so where it created this subtle, vibrant, and narrow beam of saturated light. On a clear morning, this often includes a blinding light as the sun is fully exposed. Fortunately, the clouds acted as a diffusion panel to soften the harsh sun.. Larry Shapiro photo