October 19th 2021: Dawn and dusk

Most of my work takes place at dawn and dusk – making the most of the best light for photography. But that does tend to mean I get up early and finish late, especially during our long summer days.

This past week was no different. I was chasing sun-filled images around Mosgiel for a client, but the clouds had other ideas. On two mornings in a row the sunrise I had waited for was clagged out by an annoyingly slow-moving horizon cloud. Not even a stab of a sunburst. I know because both mornings I found a location that would be perfect for the picture I had in my head. I got up early, arrived in the dark, set up and waited for the sun to rise. Each time it would rise and then give me a flat, obscured and non-workable display.

I'm stubborn as well though. I sat and waited for a few hours tracking holes in the blanket of cloud and willing them to line up just right to let the sun through. One stab of light onto the Taieri valley floor and I'd have what I came for. But, no. No, this wasn't my day. The next day wasn't either.

Most of the time I actually feel like I have the rub of the green. I turn up somewhere and the sunshine dazzles in incredible and unexpected ways just in time and I walk away feeling like the luckiest photographer on the planet. That happens 98% of the time, so I almost expect it these days. Not this past week. Dawnies that proved fruitless and to make matters worse I ran into similarly soupy conditions each evening. In between, when the light was too direct to make the kind of images I was chasing, just blazing sunshine.

Let's hope this week my lucky streak returns.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS Our latest book Living The Dream hits stores at the start of November. You can pre-order your signed copy of Living the Dream, right here.