Sunrise

Sumner Sunrise

"For me optimism is two lovers walking into the sunset arm in arm. Or maybe into the sunrise - whatever appeals to you."
         - Krzysztof Kieslowski



I think I'm a sunrise person. It appeals to me (more than sunset). Is it simply the colours, or is it something more ethereal, in all senses of the word? The freshness of the air; the promise of an entirely new day, an opportunity to start again regardless of what happened yesterday; the feeling that no matter what, today just might be the day when existing ceases, and living begins.

I took this in 1982. It's probably one of my favourite photos. It was sunrise in Mount Maunganui and looking at it now - 30 years later (OMG!) - I can remember it like it was yesterday. For some reason every second of this moment is burned into my memory. I don't remember what happened an hour before it or an hour after it. But I keenly remember that twenty seconds when I placed Christine, pushed the shutter button and sprinted the twenty meters, in cowboy boots, to her waiting arms.



Then, the moment was gone. Nothing left but a memory and a splash of colour on film. Two lovers walking into a sunrise.

Flash forward. Sumner, January 2012. Post-earthquake Christchurch. Not very post though. There was a 5.2 earthquake just a few hours before. But even at this hour of the shaken day the beach is not deserted. Is it ever? Tell-tale footprints suggest not. Who's walking on the beach in heels at 5.30 in the morning?


I must have just missed her, though, assuming it was a "her". The man with the dog is wearing sneakers.


Even in the clouds the mountains behind me are visible. Shag Rock is still in darkness, but I can trace the horizon all the way to the South. 


There's a boat anchored at the entrance to Lyttelton Harbour. I wonder how they felt in the earthquake...according to the GNS map that boat was almost over the epicentre. (And why am I now thinking of lyrics by Roger Whittaker? "rigged and ready in the harbour"? I think it's because I've been in a Facebook thread about old songs while typing this.)

I think optimism is too optimistic. I might just leave it at a morning well spent. Fresh air, good company (one of my favourite people), couple of half-decent snaps, and none of the cliffs fell on me. For a Christchurchian, that's a good morning.