Another early morning and another sunrise shoot. This time I headed off to one of my favourite local locations, Chobham Common, although I went to an area I had not been to before. There’s always a risk in doing this as I went with no idea of what I would find, or if there would be anything worth photographing.
There was a certain amount of mist around, which is always a favourite subject of mine, but I struggled to find a composition that worked. Eventually I came across a large pond covered in lilies and, as sunrise was fast approaching, I opted to try and create an image from them.
One of the lovely things about shooting just before the sun directly illuminates the area is that there can be some lovely reflected light around which, in the case of water, often gives a beautiful smoothness to the surface, especially if the water is still. There’s also a coolness to the light which I find quite calming, like in the photo above, which has a wonderful stillness about it too.
Although the sun rose shortly after I took this image, there was still quite a wait before it hit the surface of the pond, as it was surrounded by trees. I decided to wander off to have a look round, but would return when the sun was up to see the lilies after they had opened fully.
Where I was there were loads of blackberries growing on the bushes, so I decided to do a bit of foraging to gather up some fruit to add to my breakfast, which I had brought with me. I also found a handy bench where I could eat my breakfast and look out over the pond as the sun came up.
When I got back to the lilies the sun was starting to hit them and they were wide open, looking really fabulous. I set my camera on the tripod and composed my shot, waiting for the light to really give me the depth I was looking for. I wanted to show the detail in the petals and could see that the light would come round and add what I was looking for, if I just waited a while.
Now you might be wondering about the title of this blog post – why the Dastardly Ducks? Well, it all happened rather quickly, as I was doing some videoing, but you can see in this Youtube video exactly why it’s called the Day Of the Dastardly Ducks!
Despite the ducks coming along and destroying the lily I was focussed on, I did manage to get the light I was waiting for, and you can see in this photo the detail and depth I am referring to. The light really defines the shape of the petals.
After all that I returned home, picked up a Chinese menu, and was sorely tempted by the Peking duck!
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Until the next time.
:DK
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