dawn

Shot for the Day (04 January 2016)

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West Witterings – Shot 1

Before leaving the UK for Christmas with my family in Singapore, I headed down to West Witterings, one of my favourite childhood beaches.  The morning was cold, wind lashed and stormy.  All of which made for fantastic clouds and changes in light.

The image for today’s shot of the day is one of a series of five shots I took that morning, that I will publish over the next few entries.  This was the moment the overhead storm relented momentarily, giving the sun a brief reprieve to broke through the cloud and washed the beach in golden light.

Warning, if you head to Witterings, remember to take £1 coin or change with you as you have to pay to drive into the car park behind the beach.  Otherwise, it is a long walk.

Shot for the Day (3 September 2015)

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Following on from my last entry, this was taken a few minutes prior to the last shot (below) in Alcudia, Mallorca. Unfortunately, I was not well positioned for the sunrise, which was behind the head of the peninsula, to my left.  The reason for this was main due to the fact that the westerly facing headland was several kilometres on the other side of a private golf course and I had no idea how long it would have taken me to walk there.  Has anybody ever made this journey?

One thing that resonated with me the most about this particular dawn was the strength of the yellow in the sky.  Singapore tends to be far more orange due to pollutants in the atmosphere.

Shot for the Day (1 September 2015)

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I awoke well before dawn on my penultimate day in Mallorca this summer.  I wanted the experience the serenity one finds at the birth of a new day, surrounded by nature.  My home town of Singapore does have many green spaces but they are a patch of nature juxtaposed against the greyness of manmade objects.  I was craving for the antithesis.

A yacht had moored the previous night and bobbed gently on the rising tide as the first light of day bathed the foreground in a rich golden light. The moon was cradled amongst the wisps of cloud as they glided silently across the sky overhead, travelling on the a light breeze, which rustled the branches ever so slightly.

I think this is going to be my go to calm place for this year.

Shot for the Day (23 June 2015)

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Dawn on Vancouver Island

Dawn on a stretch of beach a few miles south of Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada.  No another person around for miles, just the gentle lapping of the Pacific ocean against the shore.  Mist was rising from the land, creating a very other-worldly effect.

Holiday season was well over and the temperature was only a just in double digits. Still, one of my favourite beaches in Canada.

Shot for the Day (7 June 2015)

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At the end of 2014, I travelled up to Hong Kong from Singapore, where the weather was mercifully cooler than the incessant heat of the tropics. That said, I have never found 15 degrees Celsius so cold.

One morning, I took a gander along the path that runs circumnavigates the Peak, taking in views of Aberdeen Bay on one side with Hong Kong downtown and Kowloon Bay beyond on the other.  This shot was taken on Boxing Day.  The smog filtered the early rays of sunshine, dirtying the blue sky with hues of brown and grey.

What struck me most was more based about my Western sensitivities.  Hong Kong had hardly missed a beat even though we were in the middle of the Christmas holidays.  Then again, I do not believe that Hong Kong ever truly sleeps.

Shot for the Day (6 June 2015)

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At the end of 2014, just prior to Christmas, I spend a few days with my family on the beautiful island of Langkawi, on the northern end of Malaysia, very close to Thailand.

I got up early each morning to enjoy the silence of surroundings, a far cry from the bustle of Singapore.  This shot was moments before the sun rose to my right, as the light wind stretched the clouds across the sky, with the two yachts bobbing gently in the water ahead of me.

A few monkeys in the forest behind me we on an early morning scout to find breakfast and were eyeing up my camera bag a in a furtive manner, wondering if I had some food hidden amongst the lenses.  Finally, a sea otter walked out from the shelter of the shrubbery to my left and wondered over to take an early morning bath.

Shot for the Day (25 September 2013)

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A decade ago, I was in southern Argentina, on my travels around South America. I have fond memories of camping out close to the Perito Moreno Glacier, with some friends from the Raleigh International expedition I had just completed.  The previous night, we were kept awake by the violent sound of huge chunks of ice carving off the glacier.

I arose at 4am and walked to the glacier to watch dawn break. It was a truly spellbinding moment. Unfortunately, the next time I visited the glacier, you were no longer allowed to camp in the National Park, so a doubly lucky moment.

Here’s looking at you 2003!

Shot for the Day (11 September 2013)

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An early morning slow sunrise over the channel in east Devon.  There was very little movement in the water and yet the clouds moved at a quickened pace above me.

This shots was taken about 30 minutes after dawn had broken, just as the sun finally cleared the bank of cloud hugging the horizon.

Shot for the Day (07 August 2013)

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Another early rise shot on Dawlish Warren.  The clouds had meant the sunrise was not as spectacular as I had hoped, so I tried my Lee Big Stopper.  This created the pleasant softening of the clouds and water.  It also added a blue cast to the image, which I chose to preserve.