It seems ages ago since I made it to a summer sunrise, so this weekend, I was determined to see one, upon checking the forecast the weather seemed to be reasonable, low wind, little cloud cover and a good chance of some sunshine.
So up at 4.45am and off I set to Buttermere, as the morning light began to appear on the horizon, it looked promising, I just wanted the clouds to thin out, or disappear.
As I drove past Crummock Water, I was disappointed to see the ripples on the water, not what I had hoped for, and the light was not improving either.
I drove to the far end of Buttermere and began to look around for a decent and different composition. A glimpse of light began to shine on Fleetwith Pike and the pine trees along the west shore of the lake, but I have photographed these many, many times.
I decided to go for a panoramic of the whole vista at the end of the lake. I walked a little higher up the hill to gain a suitable vantage point and proceeded to take a 7 image panoramic shot of the scene. The results are better than what I imagined with some reasonable tones within the shot, this image is attached Below.
I then selected a couple of shots looking across the lake towards High Cragg and High Stile planning to use the cloud cover and the shafts of light coming through the clouds as interest for the image.
This was easier said than done, I was waiting for over a hour for the right conditions to arrive, has is the way with landscape photography, the gods were against me, thicker and more dense cloud cover continued to form.
I was seriously considering packing up, but I finally got some luck, the clouds began to dissipate, and a I captured some decent shots with the clouds swirling around the peaks of the fells and shafts of light breaking though the clouds on to the fells.
During the time spent waiting for the conditions to improve, I went for a little walk about, looking for more compositions, It was only at this point that I realised that I was the only photographer at this location, a rare event, but considering the poor light, maybe not surprising.
After 3 hours at this location it was time to pack up and return home, but as I passed Crummock Water I was amazed to see that the water was like glass, with brilliant reflections in the water. I grabbed a parking place and dashed round Nether How to the rocky headland hoping to use the rocks as leading lines with the reflections of Mellbreak on the waters surface.
Has I walked past Woodhouse Island, this was reflected in the water like I have never seen it before, decision time, stop and take a photo, or press on to Nether How.
Press on was the winner.
When I arrived at Nether How, the calmness of the water was beginning to break, not to worry, being at the location I set up and began to wait for the calm water to return.
As previously, waiting for over 45 minutes and no sign of the super calm waters returning, I grabbed a couple of reasonable images, using a long exposure to help flatten out the waters surface.
I then packed up and retuned to the car park, passing Woodhouse Island, only to find that the water was quite choppy now, and no where near has appealing as it was earlier.
Wrong decision again from me.
Not to worry, it was good to be out with the camera again, and to reignite my enthusiasm of photography.
