Waking up with the Sun

"A faint blush below the horizon, as the first kiss from the Sun wakes the Earth from its slumber" — Meeta Ahluwalia

I have a love/hate relationship with sunrise photography. I know it's one of the best times of day for photography and that there are (mostly) far less people around than during sunset. This, however, doesn't stop it being so torturous to get up at silly o'clock, particularly during summer!

Time after time, Mother Nature rewards with a fabulous show (more often than not), but this doesn't prevent the urge to the alarm firmly off, return to sleep and wake up at a far more civilised hour.

Week 11 - Sunrises

Location 1 - St Pancras Station , London Ah, the beautifully restored St Pancras Kings Cross Stations. An area so long neglected and now quite the place to be along with the areas behind at Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard.

This was taken on the way to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Thankfully, the early train departure hadn't left me too bleary eyed to see what was happening in front of me. The proverb that 'the best camera is the one you have on you' came true here as I grabbed the iPhone to take this before heading into the main station in search of coffee.

Location 2 - Downtown Dubai

Despite having lived in Dubai (twice!), I’d never quite got around to heading here and taking this shot. No idea quite how, but there we are. It’s a highly popular spot (Insta Central) and you now have to pay to get to the roof - presumably to limit the numbers and chaos.

It's an awkward shot with the building jutting out most inconveniently, yet still a breathtaking place to be as the city wakes up in front of you. I wasn't alone for long as I was joined by some other photographers, one who even balanced his tripod precariously over the balustrade. At 42 floors up, the consequences of this going badly wrong were too much for me, so I had to put my health and safety hat on and have a quiet word.

The sunrise itself was fair to middling, so I have replaced the sky in the photo above. You can view the original shot by clicking the right arrow in the picture. Let me know which one you prefer!

Location 3 - Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka

Capturing this sunrise was quite the adventure...

I left the hotel at midnight so I could start the climb at 2am. Ouch. Allegedly the climb would take around 3.5 hours, so I'd be at the top in time for sunrise. Then 2.5 hours back down again.

The climb of 2243 metres involved 5,500 exceedingly steep steps (some nearly as big as me). My two friends were like mountain goats, me - less so. Sweating like the proverbial, heart thumping in chest, I took it at Pete’s pace. And it was kind of… odd.

There was a massive temple at the top but nowhere to watch the sunrise. So there were thousands of people being ushered down steep steps who all wanted to hang about for that ‘shot’.

Thankfully, we were rewarded with a fabulous sunrise plus a cloud inversion to boot. I'm not sure this outweighed the pain in my legs for the next week though!

In Summary:

Sunrise is defiantly a landscape photographer's paradise and a time to stand and watch Mother Nature do her thing. I'll pass on that particular 5,500 step climb next time, but this challenge has inspired me to resist turning that early alarm call off so quickly.

Next Time: Street Photography