Montauk at Sunrise

For Christmas, I finally got a real 35mm camera (Thanks Marc :) one worth getting up in the middle of the night to drive to Montauk and photograph the sunrise.  I haven't been up this early in awhile and sadly, I'd forgot how rewarding it is.  Truth be told, it was my brother who inspired me (Thanks Steven:)  He is a great photographer who should morph his hobby into a living somehow.  He was planning to go and I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my new toy.

The fabled Montauk lighthouse didn't disappoint.  We got there about an hour before sunrise amid deer and dedicated surfers beginning to stir in the pre-dawn light.  What I am really captivated by though is the lamp softly glowing in one of the lighthouse's windows.  Really? Someone lives there?  A lighthouse keeper, my nostalgic heart skipped a beat at the thought.  Upon returning home, I researched it and it turns out there is still a lighthouse keeper at the Montauk lighthouse.  I am grateful for things like this in life - that automation and computers and technology cannot replace the lighthouse keeper and her gigantic black Newfoundland.  Jealous...yet inspired before the sun even came up, we walked down to the beach.

Here are the pictures, my first attempt at real photography:

Starting a New Year at The End