Early To Bed…Early To Rise

2021 hasn’t been kind to my photography adventures. Covid-19 lockdowns, work, the weather and personal reasons have all conspired to rob me of my mojo when it comes to photography.

So as spring finally started to make an appearance it was time to get out with the camera.

The plan was for a sunrise shoot and so the alarm was set for a totally unsociable time. The UK is in the middle of one of the driest Aprils on record. Those dry conditions are caused by clear skies but that in turn leads to temperatures plummeting during the night. The month is also breaking records as being one of the coldest Aprils on record.

Stepping out of the house and loading up the car when it was below freezing made me question my logic yet again but once on the road with the heater on, radio up loud, these doubts were soon forgotten. The destination was the Peak District National Park. It only takes an hour to get there from home so I was soon parking up and heading out.

The image I was hoping to capture was from just above Ladybower reservoir. I’d seen a YouTube Vlogger that I follow, stood by a gate looking down the valley and although I’d visited the area before, this precise location was a mystery to me. A quick recap of the Vlog the night before revealed two gates, a wall and a barn…. enough for me to scrutinise Google earth and OS maps and in the time I’d drank my coffee my shooting location was found. Searching for locations like this is part of the enjoyment of landscape photography for me. Research can be very rewarding.

Its only a short steep walk up the valley to reach the location. You gain the height quickly, which was just as well because the sun was about to show itself over hill (Lead Hill) on the opposite bank of the reservoir.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky so the image was never going to have much drama so I decided to try something different.

Shooting at a narrow aperture (F 22) allowed a sun star to be captured as the sun rose over the hill. Its not the best aperture for image quality but the visual impact was just as I’d envisaged it. Once the sun was up, the light soon became too harsh, so a walk back down to the waters edge revealed some stunning reflections. Dropping down had the added bonus of beating the sun. I was now below the horizon again - allowing me to effectivly get a second sunrise as it appeared over the hill once more.

After that, it was back to the car. Drink of coffee from the flask and home before 9am. The sunrise had been mine and now I still had the whole day.