It took three visits to Rehoboth Beach to catch a sunrise. As a west coast guy, I don’t get the opportunity for a sunrise over the ocean often. Life events put me in Delaware in mid-May, within striking distance of Rehoboth Beach.

Rehoboth Beach starts jumping in late May. I came through town just before the start of the high season. My first visit was a mid-afternoon scouting session. I walked the beach and the boardwalk a little, getting a feel for what sunrise photo opportunities this beach could offer. The beach itself is wide and flat - great for sunbathing though less dramatic for photography. The remnants of a few piers would work as a foreground subject, and the boardwalk itself has many options.

My travels would give me two opportunities for sunrise - and I’m glad I had both of them.

The next morning was raining and the skies were not going to break. Ever the optimist, I struck out before dawn and drove to the beach. The winds were strong and there was a momentary pause in the rain. A brilliant sunrise, however, was not going to happen. The sky had character but the cloud cover was not going to let the morning light through.

The next morning I regrouped and tried again. The rains had passed through the area and the skies were clearer - very clear. A very modest cloud bank at the horizon was the only cover in the sky. Before daybreak, I captured a few photos at the water’s edge using one of the old piers as a foreground.

Then I turned my attention to the boardwalk. While the long stretches of empty beach were nice in golden light of sunrise, I knew I could get photos of other beaches in golden light elsewhere. A unique feature of Rehoboth Beach is its boardwalk. I shifted my attention to the shops and the boardwalk, bathed in soft orange.

Nature didn’t serve up the best of conditions, yet the stroll on the boardwalk in the early morning light was enjoyable. I grew up on the East Coast … so maybe the nostalgia led me to a more stylized look for the final images, emulating a more vintage, 1970s era treatment for color and tone.