They keep coming…but then again, I keep going…

I have discussed this many times in my blog and let me apologise in advance if this is covered territory. I am now going to admit a personal addiction live on the internet. Are you ready? I cannot resist the temptation to photograph the rising or setting sun. If you regularly read this blog you are probably thinking right now “Well that’s nothing we all didn’t know”….and you would be correct, as I have mentioned ir many times prior to this….I appear to be obsessed.

There is something about being outdoors first thing in the morning…it probably stems from doing milk rounds and paper rounds as a boy. The feeling of being the only person up and about, the solitude and the experience of seeing the rising sun as it breaks the horizon. Maybe those are not the best choice of words but they flow from the heart.

Since last months snowfall and prolonged cold snap the opportunities to grab some morning sky shots have been few and far between. With an improvement in the weather and some clear mornings I took the opportunity to get out and attempt to restore that “Morning” feeling.

The position of the rising sun moves quite quickly as the summer months approach. Below is an image showing the calculations for sunrise and sunset. This is a great tool for calculating the position of the sun in unfamiliar locations.

As the sun moves further to the east as the summer approaches it gives me an opportunity to visit my local water feature and obtain images accross the water. There are a few months a year where this opportunity presents itself. Between the months of October and February it is almost impossible as the view of the horizon is restricted.

Moving on to the images from Sunday morning; the weather was ideal, cool and clear but a few scattered clouds. I knew this was a great opportunity. No one likes getting up at 04:45 but sometimes it has to be done. If you have a passion and a fire in your belly then you just go with the flow. I have had this passion for a long time now, I dont need to go in to detail as I already have a page on this blog that details this, please take a look here. I drove the short distance to Yeadon Tarn/Dam in the dark and could already see the sky paling. The view I was about to capture was looking straight down the Tarn towards the end of the airport runway in an easterly direction.

The conditions were perfect, just the prefect combination of cloud and sky, the water was quite still but just rippling slightly to create some interest for the image. The birds were waking up and there was plenty of activity on the water, everything from Gulls to Canada Geese, Swans to Mallard Ducks. Even a lone fox showed interest in the goings on. As the sky started paling it was almost pinpointing the location I should be aiming towards. It was exactly as planned. My ideas were about to come to fruition. The sky changed quite rapidly as 05:10 approached, colours changed every minute and now was my time to shoot. I fired off over one hundred images, some single, others aimed at photostitching in Photoshop later. The opportunities were endless, even after the sun broke the horizon giving way to the daylight more images presented themselves. It was sublime.

Welcome to Sunday Mark….

People say to me….”Don’t you get fed up of taking these images” ….. “No….I don’t…every one is different, just like every day”. Take a look for yourself at the image below……