A Sunrise Walk Admiring the Manhattan skyline

I arrived in to New Jersey late evening and made it my mission to get up to see dawn break over the Manhattan skyline. Alarm all set to quickly dash out of bed before 06:33, I made it (coffee in hand too, quite proud of my morning self for that). I may have cheated the system by still being on UK time so it was in fact 11am ish, but I paid the price later in jet lag!

It did not disappoint, there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was golden and boldly rose behind the city landscape. There was a handful of runners, dog walkers and early morning commuters - it felt like I was part of a secret club that got the morning view all for themselves.

It was however, particularly sombering as it was 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It made me think a lot about the people walking past me, how were they feeling - is this there normal routine or did they get up early to pay their respects and sit for a while and remember someone?

The above photo particularly captured that for me, the person sitting next to a singular post causes two shadows of the same height to be cast behind her.

Similar to my first photo, I just love the simplicity of the above scene - the figure approaching, the street lamps lit and trialling off and the city just basking in the glow of the sun. Even with my own eyes, it felt like a movie set. It makes me want to be a morning person all the time.

Short morning walks like this with my camera remind me how much I love the medium of photography and to appreciate life and how lucky I am to capture it.