The worst part about catching sunrise this time of year is the early alarms. Not because of the time as such, more because I can never sleep the night before! I’m like a kid at Christmas, just about able to scrape a couple of hours, if I’m lucky. Does anyone else have the same problem, or is it just me?
Anyway, another early alarm saw me rise and take the the roads for a much needed morning of photography. As always, I studied the weather beforehand and made a rough guess that I would have a chance at catching some early morning mist. The general forecast was hit and miss, a bunch of low cloud to the east – north-east, starting off with little to no wind but becoming gusty as the morning progressed. With this in mind, I decided to head to a location I hadn’t been back to for too long, Loughrigg Fell. As I had plenty of time to kill before sunrise, I decided to park up at Elterwater National Trust carpark grabbed my gear and hiked up from there. I opted to take the Osprey pack again, I’ve come to like this option lately as opposed to my dedicated camera bag, not only can I comfortably take my camera gear, but also plenty of food, Jetboil for a nice hot cuppa, and any extra necessities I might need in case things go south whilst I’m out. Now, those of you who know Loughrigg well will be wondering why I chose to go this time of year, it wasn’t for the classical Autumnal compositions, I wanted to have another attempt at a couple of shots I took a while back, but at the time, wasn’t happy with the results.
The walk up was pretty relaxing in the dark, not a soul around, just me, the countless tawny owls, some herdies, a couple of voles and some undistinguishable eyes in the distance catching the light from my head torch – maybe a fox, I wasn’t too sure. There was signs of mist in the air, at least in small pockets – nothing major to impact visibility too much. It wasn’t long before I reached the summit, I checked my watch and realised I still had at least an hour until sunrise. Breakfast time! I removed my pack I dug out the Jetboil, some water, a Quaker Oats pot and my travel mug with a Yorkshire teabag (the only acceptable teabag). About a minute later, the water was boiled (I love this bit of kit) and chow was served. I packed up my kit, left no trace, and found a spot not too far from the summit to relax, enjoy my brew and watch as the surroundings became increasingly more visible as the sun began to rise.
As sunrise edged closer and closer, there was some pretty spectacular cloud formations to the east towards Nab Scar and Fairfield. Low level rolling cloud, I wished I had brought a longer lens, 200mm just didn’t cut it so instead I opted to just sit back and enjoy the show. Shortly after sunrise the cloud rolled in and the gusty wind began to really pick up. At this point I had moved into position overlooking Rydal Water and Nab Scar and was ready to grab my first shot of the day. The gusty wind and low-med level cloud brought some pretty amazing spotlights as the early morning sun managed to find a path through the cloud, illuminating various parts of the landscape around me. I fired off a few shots as opportunities arose which resulted in the first shot of the day. A scene of drama mixed with stunning spring greens and a spotlight illuminating the lower flanks of Nab Scar and clumps of trees to the south-east. Enjoy the first shot of the day!
The spotlights continued to work their magic for the next hour or so and I tracked them across the surrounding landscape. The next shot of the day came from a beautiful cluster of trees, various stages of green with an element of haze helping to add separation. I picked out an obvious composition pretty quickly as there was a spotlight illuminating a flat spot in the centre of my frame. Here’s the second shot of the day which I quite like for a mostly reactive shot.
As the morning progressed, more and more blue sky was beginning to present itself and so I rotated myself to the north-east to make the most of the last of the cloud before the blue sky dominated. It was here I sat and watched patiently as various spotlights tracked their way around the A591 in the distance up towards Thirlmere. I hoped and hoped for a spotlight to intersect the road which would have made for a great shot, sadly it didn’t happen. Instead I did capture this final shot which concluded the day’s shoot.
All in all, a great morning spent in a fantastic location. Very diverse conditions which saw a mixture of haze, low cloud, spotlights, low-level rolling cloud, a brief golden sunrise, and at times, very gusty winds. Most importantly, I walked away having learnt a valuable lesson. Typically, I would only stick around for golden hour and not to long after. Here, there were so much potential a good 2-3 hours after sunrise. Moving forwards I will definitely be more open to extending my trips if the conditions allow.
Until next time, thanks for reading!