GOSHEN — Every sunrise has its sunset.
For six years, former Goshen volunteer firefighter Bob Labrie has woken before dawn to climb the fire tower in the Daughters of the American Republic (DAR) State Park, capturing sunrises with his camera from a perch nearly 2,000 feet above sea level.
His labors produced thousands of images both in Goshen and wherever he traveled. But in a Facebook Post on March 14, Labrie announced he decided to kick the habit.
“It feels like I’ve left a friend,” said Labrie in an interview this week. “The sun is something that’s always there for me, there for all of us, but I have made it a routine for six years to greet her every morning when she rose.”
Labrie’s morning habits have changed, and he’s trying to ward off temptations to head back out and greet the sun.
“I wake up in the morning, the first thing that I would do is look out the window and determine whether or not I could see stars or clouds, because that was my first indication of what kind of morning I might have,” he said. “But I don’t do that now purposefully because her draw is still there.”
There are a variety of reasons that went into Labrie’s decision to retire from the passion. The itch to quit began about six months ago. “I started thinking, at what point does this stop?” he said.
For one, the habit started on March 1, 2020 as a pandemic distraction. But Labrie eventually attracted a cult following, especially people who were unable to catch the sunrise due to physical disabilities or a lack of time.
But eventually the Facebook algorithm wasn’t featuring his posts and he began receiving fewer and fewer comments.
“There’s part of me that felt like I was fighting this machine,” he said.
There was also a lag last month in visible sunrises which Labrie speculates may have been a sign.
“As I got closer to March 1, another thing that was maybe a coincidence, maybe it was the sun talking to me, but if folks remember the month of February there weren’t many visible sunrises,” said Labrie, who only goes out if the sun will be visible. “She was going into hiding.”
Labrie said that his photos posted to Facebook and their captions have become a diary, and memories pop up on his Facebook change that draw him back into the day he took the photos. He also expressed gratitude for the friendships he made with people due to his passion.
Labrie has not had his last trip to the fire tower. Nor has he given up on photography. He will be weaning himself off Facebook in favor of posting to Instagram where his handle is @bob.labrie.photo.
And a book may be on the horizon for Labrie.
“One of the things that has often been in the back of my mind is making some of these photos last a little bit longer, or make them more permanent by putting together a book of my more memorable excursions or some of my more memorable photos,” he said.
His wife Sue is pushing for the book with the hopes that it could potentially pay for a new camera.