Friday, October 9, 2009

Photo Friday - Dawn

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world
- Morning has Broken sung by Bob Dylan
(edit: sung by Cat Stevens) ;)

This week's Photo Friday theme is "Dawn".
In my collection I actually have many images of sunrises, warm "golden hour" light, and even some pretty pinkish bubbly clouds. But when I think of sunrise images, I don't usually like to see the sun itself, the shadows it throws are more interesting to me.

That is why I picked this shot for the "dawn" theme.
Well, that and because I doubt you want to see a picture of an ex of mine who just happened to be named Dawn... OMG! Out of curiosity I just Googled her! She's actually online (Facebook of course) and she looks like she put on some weight (haven't we all?), and moved to St. Louis. All I can say is that every lesbian in STL should steer clear!

OKOK, back to the photo!
I caught this image during the Whiney Expat Bloggers Meetup in 2008 in Bremen, Germany. Unfortunately I don't have a great post about the event, but I do have some pictures. J put out the original call to come.

On this particular Sunday morning I had rolled out of bed early and headed off to get some early-morning pics of what really is an endearing city. I was almost alone on the quiet streets, soaking in the cool, sweet fall air with a hint of fresh-baked bread. It was pretty much me and the bakery people. (Germans must have their bread, Sunday or not)

Meandering along though the "Altstadt" (old town) area I came across J of Germany Doesn't Suck who was also there for the Expat Meetup. We joined up and walked through the park, enjoying each others company and the lovely dawning of the day as the sleepy city woke up around us.

After some time we began looking for the restaurant Alex which would be the site of more Expat Whineyness. Without knowing it we walked right past the thing, into a lovely courtyard area flanked by fantastic buildings which most certainly age back two hundred years before my ancestors ever dreamed of emigrating to America.

Ahead there was a break in the eastern wall of buildings allowing a through way into the Domshof courtyard. Down the cobblestones of the street was flowing the most lovely river of fresh, morning sunlight. When we walked out of the cool shadow of the courtyard into the sun rays I immediately felt the warmth on my skin overcoming the crisp fall air. Wunderbar!

I looked down at that very moment and saw the view which you see above. Perhaps J thought I was crazy as I crouched down to get the shot. But he stood respectfully nearby and quietly allowed me to figure out the right angle and lighting to make the metal cover glow so gloriously. Thanks for that, J.

Visit Flickr to see the image in its original size.
Or see more of the Bremen shots.

See more entries or participate yourself by visiting Photo Friday.

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6 comments:

Formerly known as Frau said...

Great pictures...thats my city and my pictures suck in comparison to yours. Have a wonderful weekend.

Anonymous said...

I love being out and about in the early morning taking photos. This one captures that special early light perfectly.

Raven said...

That is a beautiful photo. I love the cobblestones and the shadows that are cast.

Treff said...

What a stunning picture. I can't even tell if you have made it in B & W or not.

I have one question though. Doesn't Cat Stevens sing "Morning has Broken?

Snooker said...

Thanks everyone for the compliments.

@ Frau
Your city is simply charming. I really want to take Sweet No there sometime next summer.

@ Jude
I completely agree, many of my Berlin pictures are taken before most of the city even wakes up.

@ Raven
To me the shadows juxtaposed off of the metal make the image.

@ Yelli
! You are absolutely right! Duh. Right before I wrote this I was reading how this song was often mistaken for being written by Bob Dylan. (sorry, brain befuddlement set in directly afterward) It seems that it was not this way, but actually based on the melody of a Gaelic Christmas carol with words written by Eleanor Farjeon.

Unknown said...

Dear "Snooker",

Here is just a quick follow-up to the comment I left you on September 30th. I hope that you did, in fact, receive it and may have found some time to read it and take my request into consideration.

In this message, I took the opportunity of introducing our company, internations.org, the biggest global network for expatriates and global minds, to you. Since it is a Germany-based online community with a strong expat focus and regularly scheduled offline events (including Berlin), I assumed that it might be of possible interest to your readers and visitors as well. So I was wondering whether you could perhaps link to us from your blog.

It would be lovely if you could let me know whether you have already considered this suggestion.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards,
Margit Grobbel

InterNations GmbH
Corporate Communications

www.internations.org
m[dot]grobbel[at]internations[dot]org