Rangitoto sunrise. Seen from Milford Beach, Auckland, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2017. Edited with Snapseed.
Awake particularly early the other day, I went for a walk on Milford Beach. The skies were low and threatening, and I’d resigned myself to a undistinguished sunrise. In fact, I was headed back to the car when a fellow walker pointed out what I nearly missed — shafts of orange light bursting outward from the horizon.
My photo can never do justice to how beautiful that moment was. The beach was almost deserted, but for the few minutes nature offered her light show, a small group of us stood together and watched.
Then the elderly Chinese woman murmured “very special moment”, we all smiled, added our agreement and carried on our way.
Written for Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally
Zimmerbitch 
That’s a stunning beauty out there. Glad you posted 🙂
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Su, what a gift, a true example of nature’s bounty. Happy Photo Challenge.
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I know the feeling, I always feel like this when I’m in awe of nature, especially sunrise & sunsets. Lovely capture as always!
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That little glimmer of pink and it is really amazing. Great photo Su.
Leslie
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That is especially beautiful! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such distinct shafts of colored light like that before.
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It was so much nicer “in real life” I’d love to have got a better photo. But I treasure the memory. 🙂
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It always is. I think of all nature, clouds are the hardest to accurately capture.
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That’s probably true. And actually sometimes the photos seem better than reality.
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What a wonderful moment. I’ve never seen a sunrise like that.
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Neither had I; nor anyone else watching it with me.
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How amazing.
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Sometimes those moments we almost miss or don’t expect are the very best.
janet
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Absolutely! It took us all by surprise and created, just for a minute, such a nice bond between strangers.
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Gorgeous—any idea what caused the light to split up that way? I’ve never seen that at the horizon like that.
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I’d never seen anything like it either. I searched online and apparently they are called crepuscular rays (such a horrible name for something so beautiful), and are caused by light coming through gaps in the cloud.
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Really cool—I’ve seen it when the sun is above the clouds and the light comes down in rays like that. But never at the horizon. Thanks for capturing it!
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Love that, “very special moment.” Absolutely, an unexpected glimpse of nature’s glory. So glad you managed to catch it on film. 🙂
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🙂 what did we do before smartphones?
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For sure, it’s my one and only camera!
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I love moments such as the one you have described, Su!
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Truly beautiful.
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🙂
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Stunning. Such a great way to start the day
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Thanks Raewyn. I was just what I needed to kick-start the day.
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Stunning photograph and wonderful encounter! 😄
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And I could so easily have missed it, if the nice woman walking her dog hadn’t commented. 🙂
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