Landscape photography is what interests me the most although I can hardly claim to be a dedicated practitioner of the genre, at least not yet. Being at your chosen location about an hour before sunrise or for an hour after sunset is the norm. In the summer of course this can be as early as 3am or as late as 11pm. And then there's the travelling time to consider. It is for this reason that I prefer to get away on my own in the motorhome so I can get close to where I intend to photograph and please myself what time I go to bed and get up. That way I have a better chance of catching the best light at minimum inconvenience to myself or my family. On one occasion recently I spent a couple of nights wild camping in Dungeness which is about 150 miles away from my home (that will be a subject for a future blog entry).
Abandoned fishing boat - Dungeness. (Click for a larger view)
I do however have to take my hat off to Joe Cornish. Joe is one of Britain's most respected and talented landscape photographers whose work I particularly admire. I recently read in his book "First Light - A Landscape Photographer's Art", how he once drove from his home in Yorkshire for 5 hours to Stranraer in Scotland. From there he took a 2 hour ferry ride to Larne in Northern Ireland and then drove for another one and a half hours to Whitepark Bay on the north-facing coast of Antrim. Once there he spent three hours photographing the coastline in the evening light. As if that wasn't enough he then got up the following morning at 3:45am, after only 3 hours sleep, to continue taking pictures of the area. Now that is dedication to your art; or complete and utter madness, depending on which side of the fence you are on.
I read this particular passage in the book out to my wife in the hope that it would go some way towards vindicating what she considers to be my disctinctly odd behaviour. Needless to say "she who must be amused" - wasn't. Well I suppose I can take some heart in the knowledge that I am not alone. The fact that Cornish does it professionally is not in the least bit significant in my opinion.