MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ)- If you’ve been around Marquette enough, you may have heard of ’that guy who takes all of those sunrise pictures’. Bugsy Sailor is a bit of a local celebrity who’s known for his sunrise gallery full of photographs from every sunrise in 2019.
Bugsy is getting ready to roll out a new year of sunrises, so he invited some friends and his social media followers to join him while he photographed the sunrise on the summer solstice.
Bugsy sailor is a native Yooper. Originally from Baraga, Bugsy says he never was a morning person, and that really, he still isn’t.
“I have to put on my nice face now while I socialize, like I’m still grumpy in the mornings, it’s still tough to get out of bed.” Sailor explained, “It just starts the day right, and it’s a way to reset, and just whatever’s going on in the world, in my personal life, it just gives me a chance to reframe the day. I mean I don’t do anything before sunrise.”
Bugsy says he started out just taking a photo of the first sunrise of each new year. Then, in 2019, he made it his new year’s resolution to commit to going out and taking a picture of the sunrise everyday. He says it was never supposed to go beyond that, but he just kept going and never looked back.
In 2020, he unveiled the year of the sunrise, it started with just those 356 photographs from around The Midwest. This mornings sunrise was Bugsy’s 1,633rd consecutive sunrise, just under two and a half years. Bugsy says the solstice is like a milestone each year, to honor that milestone, he’s releasing his second year of sunrise photographs from 2020.
“It’s only taken me 2 ½ years to edit, but all 366 sunrises of 2020 are finally edited and published.” Bugsy says, “It was a leap year, and it was 2020 which was a pivotal year for the project and a pivotal year for many of us so it’s a nice milestone to have those finally published”
Bugsy is also the owner of Upper Peninsula Supply Co. in downtown Marquette. His new year of sunrises is on display and for sale in the sunrise gallery. He says a majority of 2020s photographs were taken here in Marquette County, the gallery is like a roadmap map for the year that started it all.
Those 2020 sunrise photos are on available now. The UP Supply Co is open from 10am to 6pm Monday through Sunday, Bugsy is keeping the shop pen late tonight for the summer solstice, you can stop in until 8pm tonight.