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Planning shots and finding locations are key ingredients in maximizing your chances of nailing some good landscape shots. While you may occasionally get lucky and be in the right place at the right time, it is fair to say these odds will no doubt result in going home empty handed quite frequently. The sunrise and set positions vary a great deal from season to season, tides can submerge beaches entirely and good planning will allow you to eliminate wasted trips and in turn keep your morale from taking a kicking!
This image of Swanage Pier has been a shot in my minds eye for some years now. The symmetrical composition of the Pier, this one or any other is an obvious enough one and surely has been taken by people accomplished photographers and amateurs alike, but to really stand out from the crowd the light must be more dramatic or the sky more epic.
Swanage is very favorably orientated for sunrises and so my plan was hatched, to get the sunrise lighting up the shelter and capture a vivid sunrise. The Photographers Ephemeris is a fantastic tool which was able to help me pick the two opportunities when the sun is rising behind the shelter from a central position on the pier each year.
Getting onto the Pier before sunrise poses another challenge as it isn’t often open unless a diving party are preparing early.
I kept a close eye on the weather and kept trying until I managed to get all my ingredients coincided. I was fortunate on the day I finally got what I was after and managed to get a handful of slightly different variations before and during sunrise before the light finally got too harsh.
Although the top image is the dramatic one I was after, the pastel toned one photographed five minutes before the sun broke the horizon is probably the more sucessful.
If you are interested in a workshop with me please visit my workshop page on my website. I offer half or full days to include a sunrise, sunset or both.