A Morning Walk

I love going for an early morning walk in our local country park, it can really set me up for the day ahead, but the key to it is making sure I know the weather forecast the night before. It isn't always correct and of course an accurate general forecast can vary widely locally, but when they mention mist or fog and clear skies more often than not I know I will be in for a treat.

Yesterday morning was one of those days when all the elements came together and I could loose myself from the world for a couple of hours. It is often perceived that landscape photography is a nice calm artform with the photographer taking time to compose the shot wanted and fine tune elements in the camera sat there on the tripod. Well that is often the case... unless you go for sunrise... those that haven't ventured out to watch the sunrise should try it sometime, don't worry you won't be standing there for ages, it is remarkable at the speed of change that takes place, especially as those first rays hit early morning mist. And the speed that the sun moves up and across the horizon means that if you aren't ready for it you will miss the shot you wanted and then spend catch up for the next half hour trying to predict where the sun will be and what effect it will have on the mist and shadows.

But don't dispair, get down your park for sunrise anyway, you will see magic happen in front of your eyes and no two mornings will ever be exactly the same, after eight years of visiting the same location I still came away with shots that I've never seen before and through repetition you get to know what is likely to happen when certain things occur such as when a swan glides to a certain spot on the lake there is a sequence of moves before it stretches it's wings for the day ahead, getting to know the tell-tale signs means you can anticipate what is about to happen and gives you a few seconds to make sure you are ready for the shot... it doesn't work every time, but wouldn't life get boring if things always happened as expected.