Another fabulous sunrise in Dublin
I just realized that my last 3 blog posts were all about sunset - so how about a sunrise? :-)
the ha'penny bridge looking all awesome at sunrise over the river liffey
Like all photographers, I prefer to shoot at the edges of the day - those moments when the light is soft and buttery, and the world just looks and feels like a quiet, peaceful place. Sunrise, sunset, blue hour, golden hour - those are the times we all prefer to be out shooting, and that's what we often aim for. While I will happily shoot any time of day, I do prefer the soft edges for all the obvious reasons.
On my last visit to Dublin - which is a GREAT city to visit, by the way - I got up for sunrise shooting at least once (I always get in at least one sunrise there) and headed out. The thing is, you can never tell what is going to happen - it's a total crapshoot. It's a risk, and you have to get up early to take it.
the temple bar is both that bar on the corner, and the name of the district it sits in - and it's usually super crowded. But at sunrise it's empty!
When you want to shoot sunset, you can look at the sky and see what's happening, which will usually give you some idea at to whether it could be great or not. But sunrise? No way, you are asleep and it's totally dark out. You literally have NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. You are just hoping, wishing and praying that you are rewarded for getting up early. And sometimes I have gotten up only to find it raining, and then I cannot go back to sleep.
But Luckily, I was rewarded on this morning.
I wandered around in The Temple Bar District and had it all to myself. That alone is worth the price of getting up, in my book. Being able to walk around a usually crowded tourist area and get clean shots of places? I'll take that every time, thank you very much. Then again, I tend to be a bit introverted so solitude is my friend.
So yep sunset is pretty awesome (though it can be impossible to shoot in places like this that are crowded that time of day), but don't ignore the opportunity to get up early and shoot a sunrise. You might just get some keepers!
And if you want to see my list of the best places to shoot in Dublin, you can find that here.
another view of the ha'penny bridge
a view down the river liffey during sunrise
