Last Sunday morning I got up at 4am to get ready for the drive up to Chiayi city and to a particular rooftop with a view overlooking Renyitan reservoir from the east. I had taken pictures from this vantage point once before, but during the late afternoon rather than the early morning. The drive up to Chiayi on the motorbike was cold (about 7 ℃) and the first red rays of sun appeared over the mountains to my right as I was passing through Tainan's Liouying district at about 6.30am with the sun rising properly just before 7am. After a brief stop in my preferred 7-11 in Chiayi city, I got to my perch at some time between 7.30am and 8am and by now the sun was well up over my shoulder...
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| Sunrise looking westward over Renyitan reservoir; the striking dark brown-grey haze on the horizon is stagnant air containing pollutants that, for the time being, cannot be dispersed. There are at least three possible causes; one is a temperature inversion whereby a layer of warm air moves over the cooler surface air and inhibits the cooler air from rising thereby preventing normal air convection; the second is the absence of strong and sustained winds to mix the air and disperse the pollutants; and the third is a prolonged lack of precipitation. I would need to check the weather records, but I don't think there has been not much wind and no rain at all in the Tainan-Chiayi area for a couple of weeks I think. |
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| The mountains out east behind me framed by two lamp-posts. |
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| A broader view east of the rising sun from the rooftop. |
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| Focus on the span of the main dam section at the south end of the reservoir. This is still the second longest dam in Taiwan. |
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| A nearby condominium in which the south-facing apartments will have superb views over the reservoir. |
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| Close up on the dam with the morning sun lighting up the fencing into a golden brown shade. Even at this early hour there are already people walking along the dam and two teenagers standing next to the water's edge. |
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| In the distance opposite the dam you can see the angle of the access road to the outlet pipe valve which feeds neighbouring Lantan reservoir further west. |
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| A condensed panorama shot overlooking Renyitan a little while later after the sun had risen higher. |
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| I left my perch in the east and drove west to the other side of the dam where I could look back eastward to catch the effect of the sunlight from the south-west corner. |
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| Another condensed panorama shot over Renyitan, but this time from the south-west corner looking eastwards across the downstream face of the dam. |
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| Looking westward to the bridged spillway for Lantan reservoir. |
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| A panorama shot from Lantan's south-east corner looking westward with the dam on the left side of the image. |
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| Panorama from the dam crest at the far western end of Lantan reservoir looking back east toward the risen sun. This is probably my favourite shot of the day, with my only concern being that, because the shot was taken using the 10-24mm lens, the mountains are too far away in the background to make a strong impression, though this is compensated for by the greater lateral and vertical range and the central position of the sun. |
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