Down by my grandfather’s place is a wonderful beach known in our family as the “Shell Beach.”  As children my cousins and I played there, gathering shells and other treasures of the ocean.  It remains a special place, not just for the shells but for the beautiful beach sunrise vistas.  I took these last May when I visited south Florida to photograph the Burrowing Owls.

It was one of those breezy summer mornings when the weather forecast predicted over 50% cloudcover.  I wondered if I would wake up and find the clouds too dense for sunrise, but the weather cooperated.  (It doesn’t often do that!)  I love the rocks at this beach, which were such fun to climb on as a kid.

I used my neutral density filter so that I could select a slow shutter speed and blur the water.  The waves were very choppy, so I liked my blurred water shots the best.

The sun was fun to watch as it gradually lit the clouds and then finally peeked out over the horizon.  I knelt with my camera and waited for the waves to break on the rocks in front of me.  The rock formations at this beach are pretty, but I find I have trouble with composition there.  For the shot above, I think I would have liked a wider-angle lens to capture more detail in the foreground.

As the sun moved higher in the sky, its rays shone down on the ocean.  Last time I was at this beach I saw a dolphin out in the early light, but this time I wasn’t so lucky.

As we left the beach on our way to see the Burrowing Owls, the skies cleared up quickly and soon there was no cloud in the sky.  I was lucky to get the clouds for sunrise!