Why sunrise is the best time for photography

Sunrise and photography, for me it has to be the best. Now obviously that is just my opinion but there are a few good reasons why I think that. The photos below certainly help my case I think.

Sunrise up in the mountains of Cadiz in Southern Spain.

One thing about sunrise that I love is the peace and quiet you get. Taking photos when there is literally no one around for me makes the process a lot more enjoyable and relaxing. This photo was taken on my 60 year old Yashica Mat with some portra 400 film. Enjoying the various sounds of a vintage camera along with the birds songs makes for a pretty great sound track.

The lack of people around during sunrise especially in the summer means you can compose scenes like this and not have to wait for people to walk past, finish their morning coffee or wait for their dog to finish peeing. Yes, I know a lot of you probably love including humans in your photos, but for me most of the time I prefer there to be no humans in my photos. Each to their own and all that.

Now I don’t know if this is actually true, but in my experience there is just something a little nicer about sunrise golden hour compared to sunset. I honestly don’t even know how to explain it but I think because it’s getting brighter rather than darker things just look nicer and the light is just a little softer but still has that beautiful golden glow.

I may be talking absolute nonsense but that’s just what I think haha

A quick photo from the middle of the road in Porto before things start to get hectic.

A very cold morning between the mountains. Shot with my Nikon FE & some Kodak Gold 200 35mm film.

Medium format film along the coast with nothing but the sound of the sea and the morning birds.

So yeah I think I’ve made my point, I love sunrise photography. Now as much as I love it that certainly doesn't make dragging myself out of bed any easier. It’s pretty much always a struggle but it also always seems to be worth it when it comes to photography.

However it is a lot easier when you are in a nice warm climate like I was in the video below in the lovely Algarve :)