On our way to the farmers’ market on Saturday mornings, I turn onto 15th street and see this view toward the campus of the University of Kansas. It’s always just around sunrise and the big orange ball of the sun is rising behind the twin towers of Frazier Hall. Last Saturday it was a particularly good sky — slightly overcast so that you could look right at the blood red sun. It was rising just to the left (north) of Frazier and I decided that I would start walking up to that spot in the mornings to see if I could get a photo when the sun appeared directly between the towers.

Six days later, I finally managed to have a clear-ish sky and the time available to make that walk. It was a nice morning — not quite as interesting as last Saturday — but I figure I’ll do this somewhat regularly to try the same scene in different qualities of light.

Above is a shot from just before sunrise this morning. I was initially surprised that, when the sun came up, it was already to the right of the towers. Then I remembered my lunch with a photographer friend yesterday who was telling me about his recent project of shooting prehistoric solstice markers. He was in town because he had just finished shooting a couple of them earlier in the week.

Duh. The Fall equinox was last Tuesday. 15th Street, being an east-west street, would be aligned to the sun on the equinox. I was three days late. Thinking back, Tuesday morning was dreary and rainy so I didn’t miss anything. Still… another thing to add to my shoot calendar for the Spring equinox next year.