A Month of Sunrises - What I Learnt
Getting up early is something I haven’t had to do for a long time. Especially whilst working at a pub when you don’t get home most nights till 10pm, waking up early was reserved only for appointments or interviews. Everything else could wait till the afternoon, including photography. But since Boris Johnson introduced tier systems into England, I now either leave work early or, even more often, not work at all. Therefore, I haven’t had the need to stay up as late anymore. This, coupled with the fact that the days are getting shorter and the sunrises later, is what led me to decide to start getting up early for the first time in years.
For some reason, the thought of getting up before dawn used to seem like some sort of crazy, elusive habit that was just not practical for the average person. And for the first few days, it was. When my alarm went off at 5am that very first time, I felt like I’d barely slept - because I hadn’t. It was pitch black outside and it felt so unnatural for me to be getting out of bed. Regardless, I powered through, and head out to my first destination of many, Ladybower Reservoir.
I picked this place as I thought it would be a nice introductory landscape. It’s only a few minute walk away from the car and it is one of the shortest drives for me from my house. Admittedly we arrived a bit late, but thankfully the sun took a while to break through the clouds anyway. By the time we got to where we wanted to be, the colours just started to appear slowly, and I got shooting.
As the soft morning glow transitioned into harsh daylight and blue skies, I realised how tired I was and headed home for some rest.
The forecast was rubbish for the next few days; I continued to get up early, but not at the crack of dawn. That was until the forecast for Snakes Pass was set to be foggy in the next upcoming days, and I knew I had to see it. The night before I prepacked my bags, set my alarm, and tried to sleep. When I woke up this time, I felt a bit better that the first, but still not great. I definitely did not have the recommended 8 hours sleep, but I was so excited to go see these conditions that was set to stay in place until 10am.
For this one I mainly just sent the drone up to capture what I wanted. I think this road looks fabulous from a birds eye view as it offers you a unique perspective most people won’t see. The conditions certainly did not disappoint and I was quite happy with the results. We wasn’t here for very long at all, I only had one drone battery and no charger, so as soon as it went flat (after 13 minutes to be precise), there really wasn’t much point hanging around anymore. Now that might sound like a wasted trip to some; we did try and walk around the actual forest but it was extremely wet and muddy and I didn’t have the correct footwear. However, this was the trip that pushed me to invest in some more equipment; a second drone battery and a drone battery car charger. It was pretty expensive for what it was, but I knew when it arrived I would be able to get unlimited flying time and, therefore, more photo opportunities.
Two days later and we went for our third sunrise, this time at Derwent Reservoir. This one we got there in plenty of time for - I think I was slowly getting better at time keeping. It was a rather disappointing sunrise as the clouds barley gave way to any light, but this day, I learnt a second lesson about my drone. If you fly your drone over a big dam wall, you will lose signal, and the aircraft will disconnect. Honestly, when I saw my screen freeze and turn black and white, my heart sank. I knew it was hovering over a massive body of water and there was no way I would ever be able to retrieve it, and it wasn’t insured. But then, after 10 long seconds of me imagining myself forking out another £700 for a new one, a little message popped up saying ‘returning to home’. The biggest wave of relief washed over me, I didn’t even know that was a feature! Sure enough, it found its way back to me, and ‘The Flying Dutchman’ lives to fly another day.
The very next day was going to probably be my favourite day so far. The forecast looked very promising for a cloud inversion, and so this time we picked Mam Tor as our choice of destination. As it is a big hill, there was a good chance of looking down on the clouds from here. When my alarm went off, this time at 5.20am, I sprang out of bed incredibly excited for what may lie ahead. We arrived at the lay-by for around 7am and had to make a very steep walk up the hill whilst also trying to shove some breakfast down. The higher up we got, the more the conditions looked amazing, it was like we were in the middle of one massive cloud.
The scenes were unreal; the sun was bright red lighting up the whole landscape and you could see the cloud rolling in around you. Even though we were still walking up, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and it was now or never. In my two years of doing photography I’d literally never seen conditions so good, and I started panicking. I was practically flying my drone whilst taking pictures on my camera whilst recording footage. I wanted every photo and angle I could get my hands on because I wasn’t prepared. And that’s my third lesson I learnt; give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination to scope out the area and pick out your composition before sunrise begins. I still managed to get some brilliant photos, but it was very stressful.
Like being on top of the world, I’ll never forget how great this day was.
I had been getting up early for about two weeks by now, and my body finally started to adjust. I found myself waking up at 7am on my days off shooting, and being in bed by 10pm was the new norm. I found myself a lot more appreciative waking up early. I became more productive as I worked through the mornings and I was getting maximum amount of daylight hours, which is extremely important as the winter months close in. I continued to get up for more sunrises. Some good, some not so good. But each time I felt like I was learning something different.
My biggest lessons I learnt was one, conditions matter! Conditions can make your photo either look an an average photo, or a breath-taking photo. Not every person will have the chance to wake up at 5am and chase the light in the mountains, so that’s why you have to do it - to stand out from other people. Two, some conditions you may only get in the morning, such as temperature inversions, or snow before it’s trodden in. I noticed the peak conditions usually started to dissipate an hour or two after sunrise. You may still get the end of the conditions, but they won’t look as good. Lastly, beat the crowds! Every time I drove through Ladybower at 7am the roads would be deserted, and every time I drove back at 10am, the lay-bys were completely full with hoards of people walking around. There’s been times I’ve come to the Peak District mid-day recently just to walk the dog and really struggled for parking, and on one occasion had to turn around and go somewhere else. Sometimes for that reason alone it’s worth getting up just that little bit earlier.
Taken around 8am, moments like these I would never had captured if I stayed in bed
I can say getting up early has only been a positive experience for me. Aside from the fact on some shoots I was exhausted from lack of sleep, overall my photography has drastically improved since making the extra effort to get up for those special conditions. The overall vibe in the morning is a lot nicer too. You may either find yourself talking to other enthusiastic photographers there for the same reason as you, or completely engulfed in your own serene world filled with peace and quiet. If you were once like me and only shot when the sun was setting, I’d seriously suggest only going for sunrises for one week and see what a difference it can make to your photos.
After all, they do say the early bird catches the worm.
