The Dawning of a New Day in Sacramento, Part 2
A Photographic Essay by Scot Facer Proctor

The Day Dawn is Breaking

It seemed to take a long time for the sun to actually arise here in Sacramento. I remember being at the gate of the San Antonio Temple and talking to the security guard and the sun began to break on the eastern horizon. I literally ran out of the car and started taking pictures. In this section you’ll see the light begin to touch the temple here.

Click on photos to enlarge

I was already seeing some wonderful angles to shoot pictures of beautiful brides and grooms. This eastern side, I’m sure, will be a place for a lot of pictures in the future.

The view through the interestingly shaped trees here was fabulous. I kept watching through this break to see when the sun was going to rise. This was taken at 6:36:08 (my digital camera records every little detail and imbeds them on every image, including what time zone we are in). Isn’t that a lovely view?

This was another set of inscriptions on the eastern side of the temple. Again, I think there will be some nice wedding photos from some angles over here in days to come.

Those of you who have followed my photo essays of temples know that I love to shoot various angles of the Angel Moroni figure on top of the spire. This was the last shot I took before the light began to break as you will see in the next picture.

Yes, you can see the first touch of light on this beautiful figure (6:44:10 AM on 9/3/06). Notice how it has not touched the spire yet. This is that very first burst of light that I always watch for.

The light quickly moved down the tower as the sun was rising in the east. There was not a cloud in the sky to reflect any other colors or hues. The day was clear and crisp and the temperature that morning was a cool 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

Aren’t those lines beautiful that draw our gaze heavenward? I love looking up at the tower and spire of the temple. Notice the little bird perched on the right side of the tower. This temple was built in the midst of a lot of wildlife. I saw a small flock of turkeys a number of times. All the temple committee members said, “Oh yes, those are the temple turkeys. They roam this land and will continue to do so.” I could hear chuckars (like a partridge) calling to each other in the little woods surrounding the temple. They were quite noisy. They say there is also a herd of deer that comes through here all the time. Who wouldn’t want to gather here?

You can see that I’m following the light down the tower — this shot was taken only 26 seconds after the first light touched the Angel Moroni figure. There is something so majestic and moving about the design and shape of this temple. It truly is, as one of my friends in Utah used to say, “beyond wonderful.”

Isn’t it amazing that we live is such a day — in such a time as this — when temples are being built closer to the people. What a masterful plan — or a plan of the Master. It is so humbling.

One woman wrote us today and said, “You mentioned that the next fifty temples were built in 40 months — is this a typo? Do you mean 40 years?” It really was 40 months to the day! The St. Louis Temple was dedicated on Brigham Young’s birthday, June 1, 1997. This was temple number 50. The Boston Massachusetts Temple was dedicated 40 months later, on October 1, 2000, being temple number 100. That’s another wow.

Click here to go to Part 3 of The Dawning of a New Day in Sacramento.