A visual journey through photography
There isn’t many sunrises I have missed this year since getting up at 5am to start the day. Apart from the very early ones pre-5am that is! It’s a wonderful time of day to wake up and get on with things, the world is largely still asleep, peaceful and quiet. I grabbed my camera, opened the kitchen window and caught the brief glimpse of the golden sky that began the 1st of August dawn of 2019. What a year, it’s gone so fast.
I travel through Poolsbrook Country Park on my way to work in the week, I see all the seasons throughout the year. The sunsets, the sunrises, the snow, the iced over lake and the burnt, dry grass of summer… all of them.
This series is shot entirely in natural light over a number of years with different cameras and lenses. Due to work and family commitments it is very hard to get time out to photograph for myself so I tend to photograph while walking to my destinations.
I have a very small window of time to photograph in the park during my walk to work, I would say around 15 to 20 minutes in total. This is dependent on the weather and the clarity of the sunrise. Results are very often varied but rarely do I come out without getting at least half a dozen shots that I’m happy with.
It’s not uncommon to see the lake frozen mid-winter, the lake becoming a “landing pad” for the wild birds that breed and live there. Towards the end of Winter when the temperature starts to rise eerie mist is seen floating off the pond, very often onto the stretch of road that runs by the park. Most of the trees have no leaves at this time except for a few perennials.
Although the park is not at first viewing aesthetically pleasing due to electric cables and pylons I’m a big believer in making the best of what you have to work with and decided long ago to make the pylons a fixture in the pictures i shoot at the park. Composed with care the pylons can look not too much out of place and adds to the dramatic skies that are often seen over the skyline at sunrise.
