THE BEAUTY OF SOFT DAWNS: KILIAN SCHÖENBERGER

While every part of a day has its own art, dawn seems to be the most passionate, most inspiring hour for artists. Whether they like getting up early or not, whether they’ve seen dawn from the night side with abandon or sigh, when the sky begins to blush and softly brighten, so does the creative soul.

KILIAN SCHÖENBERGER

German photographer Kilian Schöenberger especially loves dawns that are softly enveloped and caressed by fog. He likes to shoot dawns in the mountains as the pink and golden light rolls across peaks and rocky crags, kissing treetops as it goes.

It is only one sun, but it produces millions of different incredible images every moment of every sunrise everywhere on the planet. The angle of the earth, the point in its orbit, its atmospheric conditions, and its sculpted surfaces all determine a specific sunrise scene.

At 500 to 1,500 meters above sea level, Schöenberger captures a long view through the rosy velvet vapor. He drives for hours in the dark of night, and hikes through forests to reach his prize perches.

About 30 minutes before the sun begins to crown, Schöenberger is rewarded with a calm and a rush, together -- for him, the most beautiful moments of the day are happening now.

Schöenberger’s colors are exceptionally delicate, with juxtapositions and combinations that are at once edgy and subtle. Schöenberger’s color-blindness means that he cannot distinguish reds and greens.

You can see much more of Schöenberger’s work over on his Facebook page (via My Modern Met).

Mountains in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and France are often bedecked in fog in late summer and early fall. Schönberger sets out, alone, to climb them, experience them, and record them as our planet turns into the sunrise.

It is a daily meditation on beauty. See a sampling of Schönberger’s daily entries below.

#516 | Bohemian Sunrise

First light on the hills of Czech Sumava Nationalpark. Mount Boubin (Kubany, 1,362m) is the dominant alpenstock on the horizon. Fog has flooded the valleys up to 1,000m - the alternating hill crests and fog layers lead to a great depth effect | Bohemian Forest, 2014

#651 | The Blue Land

2015, finally. I hope everybody had a great start. My first duty was to visit the Bavarian Alps for some winter landscapes: One hour before sunrise above the bogs of the "Loisach-Kochelsee-Moore".

I'm very familiar with this corner of Upper Bavaria since I lived one year in the nearby village "Benediktbeuern". This area is called "The Blue Land" since many expressionism painters like Franz Marc, Wassily Kadinsky and Garbiele Münter (artist group blue rider) worked and lived there. Actually the name "Blue Land" refers to the lakes in this region, but I think my photo also fits to this phrase | Germany, 2015

#225 | Dancing Colours

My hard drive said good bye last night, so I have to show something from the archives.

This was one crazy colourful morning. Almost too colourful. Actually I am not a big friend of such intense sunrise colours - but this morning "Foehn" conditions led to this surreal sky setting (provided a great distance of view (>200km), too. Take notice of the alps at the horizon (right side of the image)). I know that this image could divide the minds, but sometimes mother nature herself seems to like dancing colours | Bavarian Forest, 2012

#503 | Daybreak

Often the sky shows the most beautiful colors thirty minutes before sunrise. By contrast earth's surface is still covered by the bluish realm of shadows. It's the most quiet moment of the day - every wisp of wind keeps silent | Dolomites, Italy 2014

#640 | Forest Sunrise

Sunrise near the "Wasserkuppe" - the highest point of the low mountain range "Rhön" (950m) almost in the center of Germany. I took this shot last tuesday when this area was one of the few regions with winterly conditions | Germany, 2014

#635 | Frost Morning

Something more colorful today since there were several photos with rather dark moods recently. Early morning in the hills of the "Rhön" - as usual a rather spontaneous trip - this time without planning a certain point for sunrise.

My view was attracted by the separated tree and the fog crouching in between the two forest layers. A peaceful morning scene - typical for the low mountain ranges of Central Europe | Wasserkuppe, Germany 2014

Read more about Soft Beauty all this week on BeautifulNow, including Soft Places to Land and Soft Furry Feathered Beauties. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.

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PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #628 | The Floating Castle. Castle Hohenzollern, Germany.
2. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #579 | Bavarian Heaven. Perlesreut, Germany.
3. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #177 | Unexpected view… Upper Palatinate Forest to the Bavarian Forest. Bavaria, Germany.
4. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #240 | Bavaria. Watzmann Peak and Bavarian Forest, Germany.
5. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. Foggy Landscape at Sunrise.
6. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #586 | Peaks on Fire. Cadini di Misurina, Italy.
7. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #587 | The Ancient Land. Saxon, Switzerland.
8. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #516 | Bohemian Sunrise. Sumava National Park, Czech Republic.
9. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #651 | The Blue Land. Germany.
10. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #225 | Dancing Colours. Bavarian Forest.
11. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #503 | Daybreak. Dolomites, Italy.
12. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #640 | Forest Sunrise. Germany.
13. Photo: by Kilian Schöenberger. #635 | Frost Morning. Wasserkuppe, Germany.