Sunrise at the Gas Station

Is this suppose to be the sun rising or setting?

Probably of the sun rising.  The sky is suppose to be in the east. 

It seems for me to catch or photograph a subject and see the sun rising or setting is unusual. 

It seems like an easy thing to do.  Begin sitting across the street from the gas station at 7am if that is sunrise time. Wait for the sun to rise. When orange begins to appear, take a photo.

One problem is weather. There is rain and the possibility of cloud cover. During winter time, it can be even more of a challenge.

I think this is suppose to be the sun rising.

Sunset at Sunoco

Sunset at a Sunoco station. Why did I decide to take this picture?  Maybe because the sky is in the west. Maybe the sky was suppose to be some shade of orange.  It did not look too colorful when I took the picture. 

Taking some of these photos. What exactly do I expect?

I take a photo of the a subject at 10am and expect the back-light   from the sun to give the subject a certain look.  I photograph a subject with the sun rising behind me. It is probably suppose to produce some nice shadows.  Maybe I should photograph a subject with the sun rising or setting behind it then people who see the photo will understand my purpose in taking the photo was. I have to remember the photo of a gas station where a person did exactly that. The person photographed the station as the sun was rising. The sun was bright and flooded the photo.

Here, the subject is not flooded by the sun setting.