Sunrise & Sunset

We had a break in North Wales last week. The hotel we stayed at is at the mouth of the Conwy estuary and we were fortunate to have a suite with a terrace overlooking the estuary. As far as photo locations, it’s about as easy as you could get for capturing great sunsets and sunrise images. I took my Sony cameras and lenses and shot at a variety of focal lengths, capturing various stages of the sun coming up and going down.

I kind of fell out of love with sunset photos a couple of years ago, as I tended to overdo them. Living in the upper Calder Valley, there are some great vantage points to capture amazing sunsets and spectacular skies. If you repeat a subject too often, you can get fed up of it. I had reached that stage and shied away from regular posting of orange skies and silhouetted landscape features.

These sunrise photos were taken using the Sony 20mm f/1.8g and the Sony 40mm f/2.5g. I say sunrise but the sun hadn’t quite risen so they more blue hour than sunrise. The location lends itself to these images as it’s a tidal estuary so water levels create fabulous detail in the sandbanks and the meandering path of the river Conwy out to sea. We were also fortunate to have some beautiful weather for these types of photo. Most landscape photographers like moody skies, fog or challenging conditions but clear skies and warm weather can bring benefits too. The colours rendered up in the early morning were stunning.

If you think the sunrises were good, the sunsets were incredible. The sky was on fire and add to that, beautiful rich patterned clouds topped the deep orange horizons. This image was taken with the Sony 24-50 f/2.8g lens which pretty much was glued to my camera throughout the days of our break. It is a superb piece of glass that covers the wide to standard focal lengths in a small package. I took a Sony 70-200 f/4 lens as well but didn’t really enjoy using it as it struggled with contrast in bright sun. I decided whilst away to trade for a Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 g2, in the hope I will get a better long telephoto option. This view looking west towards the mouth of the estuary and marina was the perfect spot to get the best of the dying sun. It reignited my desire to take sunset photos and also to spend more time at the coast.

This final image over the marina was taken ten minutes before the sun went down and was taken with the 70-200. It’s a great lens but also a dust magnet (for some reason) so let’s hope the Tamron performs a bit better. There is something magical about the going down of the sun but I also loved the early mornings. I’m an early riser and the onset of summer is a gift for my photography. I need to get out more early morning and late evening, I have spent a few months in a state of apathy regarding my landscape photography, maybe born out of a lack of self confidence, a worry about sharing in a saturated area of photography and a bleak winter. I used to be an autumn/winter fan but in my older age, I find myself appreciating spring and summer more. if you haven’t visited North Wales, I urge you to go. It is a beautiful region with great beaches, stunning mountains and some of the best locations for sunset I’ve ever experienced.