The Promise of Sunrise
Awakening on Rapa Nui
The first full day of the Nikon photography workshop began before dawn on Rapa Nui—better known as Easter Island. We woke in the darkness and climbed into the van, headed to Ahu Tongariki to photograph its 15 Moai statues at sunrise.
I don’t normally set an alarm for sunrise. I’ve never been that person. But this time felt different. This was the first of many firsts—or maybe better to call them fresh starts. Returning to something I once knew and loved: photography. Not just snapping a moment, but intentionally creating one—shaping exposure, bringing darkness into light.
Photography, Again
The last time I took an intensive photography class was back in college, in a black-and-white course for my journalism minor. I loved it. And here I was again, dusting off the same confusing mechanics—f/stops, shutter speed, ISO—trying to make sense of how they work together. This time, I had a tripod, which I had never used before.
That first morning also reminded me how much I still have to learn. Around me were serious amateurs with serious cameras and lenses—people who had managed to pursue careers, families, and this hobby. I couldn’t help but wonder: what had I been doing with my life? It wasn’t the first time in the past few years I’ve asked myself what I could have been if I had focused less on a career I hadn’t fully chosen, and never truly loved.
A Different Kind of Sunrise
As the van bumped along the dirt road, headlights carving a path ahead, I stared at the wooden fence running alongside us. Beyond it stretched a rocky, lunar-like expanse dotted with desert-like plants, fading into deeper darkness the farther it reached from our light. That fence became, in my mind, a boundary between two lives: the safety of what I left behind in the shadows, and the uncertain leap forward into the light.
Is this a sunrise in my life? A new chapter, a chance to begin again? Sunrises are exactly that: the dawn of another day, a fresh start. A reminder to live with intention.
Moai statues at Ahu Tongariki — Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile
Lessons from the Light
At Ahu Tongariki, headlamps glowing, we lined up with our tripods in front of the Moai. Fifteen stone figures towered above us, silent witnesses to the shifting sky. From darkness to deep purple, then to a swirling madness of color—the promise of the sun just minutes away.
We compared exposures, laughed, tweaked our camera settings. Our instructor floated from person to person, encouraging us to find our own style, to notice what made us pause. And then, like magic, the sky opened. The colors developed like an image in a darkroom tray—purples, oranges, golds, pinks—all unfolding before our eyes.
Others had gathered too, crowding for selfies and stepping into our shots. But even that couldn’t break the spell. For a few moments, everyone—photographers, tourists, strangers—was united in wonder.
Begin Again
This won’t be the last sunrise of the workshop, but it reminded me how precious time is. Moments pass quickly. Some I wish I could redo. But looking back too often keeps me stuck there. To move forward, I have to take the leap, no matter the pace.
A sunrise is more than light on the horizon. It’s an invitation: step out of darkness into possibility. Begin again, with intention. Be present in the now. Savor it—the brilliance of a new day rising above the Moai, above us all.
Because it’s in the present that we see ourselves reflected in the brilliance of the world around us.
This journey is unfolding one step at a time. For more moments—both big and small—follow along on Instagram and see the stories through my lens at Emmy Photography.