The Early Bird Gets The Light, Usually.

The alarm was ringing in my ears and so I reached out and put it on snooze, but I knew I had to get up now or risk losing the light. So forcing myself out of bed, I got dressed, pulled on my coat and headed out the door. It was still dark but I could see patches of clear sky and clouds which is perfect for getting a colourful sunrise. I started heading for the coast but when I was still about 5 minutes away it started to rain. I thought it would probably clear before sunrise so I carried on regardless and when I got to the beach I wandered down to the water to see if I could set up my camera but the rain was too heavy. I jogged to the shelter of a nearby restaurant, already drenched and freezing cold I waited for what I knew was going to be a great sunrise. The rain continued despite my best efforts and so i sat huddled up in several layers of thick clothing watching the dreary clouds drift past. Gradually the dark grey turned to a lighter grey and then daytime, no sunrise, no colours, just constant rain. However, I was here anyway so decided to wander along the coast looking for compositions. I found one that looked promising so set up the tripod, attached the camera and then reached into my bag for my filters, great, no filters. In my morning dullness I had forgotten them. Never mind, work around it, so I set up my composition and took the shot.

Dull, flat and uninteresting, this was a foreboding start to what I had already decided was going to be a successful shoot and so I continued in my search for nice compositions. A little further down the beach I found what looked like a promising photo, so once again I set my camera down, lined it up and took the shot.

Now when deciding on a composition there are a series of things to look for and a series of things to avoid. On paper, this looks like it should work. The S shape of the stream flowing into the sea leading your eye from the bottom of the frame to shore and the use of the rule of thirds and yet it doesn't work. I maintain that had the beach been a bit less dirty, the camera a little higher and the sky a little less flat this image would have worked but alas thou shalt not dwell. So, feeling a little dejected I continued with a slight sense of desperation to search for the image that I knew was here somewhere. Next I decided on a very simple composition.

Now I should probably take this moment to tell you that this is not how it came out of the camera. I upped the contrast and clarity and vibrance. I used a graduated filter in light room to dehaze the sky and darken it slightly. However compositionally I think that this is much more compelling than the previous two images and yet it is much simpler which is really the point of this, sometimes less is more. Now obviously this image is helped by the movement of the wave in the foreground and the much more dramatic sky but even without those it is a better picture.

Another simple composition using lead in lines to draw your eye to (as the more observant among you may have noticed) nothing. Had this walkway been further to the right it would have led your eye to the beach and then out to sea, but as I have neither the ability or paperwork required to do so I had to accept this photo as just being a bit "meh".

These two images follow the trend set previously in being a bit disappointing. The first image follows the rule of thirds and uses a long rock pool as a leading line to draw your attention towards the large headland in the back ground, but there is nothing about it that makes you go wow. The second places an interesting rock formation in the bottom left third so follow the rule of thirds and has the shore making a nice gentle curve towards the horizon but there is still something missing and I can't quite put my finger on it. I suspect that they would both work at sunrise when the sky comes alive.

I quite like this image, the runners from the fishing hut create lovely leading lines and the sky is very dramatic. I particularly like the intricate details on the wooden runners. Again it is far from perfect, if I'd had my filters i would probably use a polariser and a grad to make the whole image more dramatic and stop the sky from being blown out.

This is probably my favourite image of the morning, the vibrant contrast of the orange rocks and turquoise water really grab your attention and the dramatic sky and landscape in the background hold it. I used a relatively slow shutter speed of about 0.3 secs to show the movement of the water.

This final image was initially meant to be part of a panoramic that I had stop after this shot as it really started to chuck it down and the lens was getting covered in spots making it impossible to take photos and once again soaking me to the bone. Now this entry has been a bit all over the place but the idea was to show that despite not having the right equipment and pretty miserable conditions, just by waiting and looking for compositions that suit the weather you can get compelling images. Now I am well aware that none of these are amazing, but landscape photography is all about the long game and even just using these images as references i can go back when the conditions are better and use the same compositions.