Sunset, shorts and snapping fingers.

The first signs of summer and I go out with for an evening sunset shoot with just my shorts and a thin top. Blimey Charlie it's still cold. Andy did say it was windy but I had stood out in the back garden for at least two minutes and on that basis decided I would be fine. I was mostly, it was just that my fingers were in danger of snapping off after holding a freezing metal box for a few hours.

I bought David Noton's Chasing the light DVD (next one in Blu Ray please) after noticing that nearly half of the visitors to my site look at the landscapes and had gotten all inspired to shoot some. I haven't really done much in the way of landscapery since starting to shoot people last year so it's probably about time to fill out the port.

The previous day I drove with Carol out to Glastonbury to find one of the locations on the DVD. We found it eventually but it was entirely the wrong time of year and there was no sign of there being any kind of sunset. So I have banked the location and will return there in the summer.

The biggest problem I find with landscapes, apart from the dire British weather, is knowing where to go. I sometimes get asked after a great sunset if I got some shots with my camera. The answer is invariably no, as I am probably at work (as it's probably a week day) and even if not you have to be on location and set up if you want decent shots. Once you can see the sunset you have missed the sunset. The best light probably lasts only 15 minutes or so at best. You may even end up only having a few seconds. I have raced many sunsets in the car trying to find a place to set up only to miss the best light and end up with some files to delete when I get home.

I don't do too much landscape photography purely because the whole process can be so disappointing. It can take a pro days or weeks to get "the shot" and as I have a full time job I only get two days a week to shoot and of those two days there are only maybe four hours where it is actually worth pressing the shutter. Considering that two of those four hours are at dawn and only insane people have ever seen a dawn (unless you're still going from the night before) that doesn't leave too many opportunities to shoot (and then it clouds over and rains). Even barring the rain the weather changes so fast that it really is hit and miss and it really takes a lot of planning, equipment and effort to maximise those opportunities. It also takes a lot of patience (which I do have) and can be quite disheartening. But it gets you out of the house and into the country which is no bad thing.

So last night we drove over to Avebury, scouted around for a decent viewpoint and waited...... and waited........ and waited (clocks went forward)... for the sunset. Eventually it came and I got some fairly nice shots, although I always think I could have got more but that's the game as David would say. You wait and wait and wait some more and then with a little luck you get the shot.

This was taken on the West Kennet avenue away from the crowds although most people had given up and gone home by then anyway. Click it to see the set in flickr.



See a real landscape photographer - here