Monthly Archives: August 2017

The Golden Hour

Discovering Nature and the Great Outdoors

I pulled myself out of bed at 4:45 am. It was still dark and the 52 degree temperature outside was pretty chilly for late July in Virginia, but just the kind of morning I was hoping for. Sunrise was not for at least another hour, but I had to move quickly and find my locations. The recent heat wave finally came to an end, and as the overnight temps dropped, it created thick, morning fog that hung over the surrounding valley and mountainsides. Add some early morning rays of sunshine, and you can discover some excellent photo opportunities in these conditions, but the “golden hour” doesn’t last very long.

   

Fog drifts over a fresh cut hayfield at sunrise, and the surrounding valley.

Outdoor photographers love the golden hour. If the weather is favorable, it happens twice a day-right after sunrise and right before sunset , when the sun’s light is softer and not so bright. If you have a decent camera, the photos can be awesome!

Early morning sunlight illuminates a single tree in a cow pasture, with the Blue Ridge Mts in the background.

Most of my golden hour landscape locations I pre-scouted during regular daylight hours. Where exactly will the sun rise and what natural features could it highlight? Are there any human-made objects that may detract from the photo that I don’t want in the picture, or human-made objects that I DO want in the picture because it may add something special? Of course, is the location safe, and/or, will I be attracting attention I may not necessarily want? Most of my early morning encounters usually involve the good men and women in law enforcement, who, along with a few local farmers, are usually the only ones up at that time of the morning.

I liked the way these cows came out of the fog in the early morning hours to check me out. For this picture I wanted the farm in the background which gave the photo a “sense of place.”

Such was the case this past weekend when I had pulled my truck nearly all the way off a quiet, country road at 5:45 am, with my 4-way flashers clearly visible. As I waited for the sun to rise over a distant ridge, I could see in my rearview mirror a car cresting over the hill behind me. I knew exactly who it was. As I waived the sheriff’s deputy on by me, he turned on his lights, pulled up beside me and rolled down his window. Before he could say anything I politely told him I was just snapping some sunrise photos. Although it seemed as if it was an hour before he responded, a few seconds later he told me I was parked in the middle of the road and was blocking traffic, and I needed to find a safe place to pull all the way off the road. Without hesitating I simply said “OK officer,” as he sped away. I understood he was only doing his job.  I only stayed long enough to get my photo!

In this photo the sun had not yet risen and the angus were curious as to why I was stopped next to their pasture. I really liked the combinations of the cows, the fog, the tree and the mountains in the background. Many times the same location can result in very different photos just by waiting for the lighting to change. Notice the tree in this photo is the same single tree that is being illuminating in the photo above…it just happened to be 10 minutes earlier!