Where Sunrises Rule the World

People who used to work with me when I did IT full time will testify I am not a morning person. I don’t function well in an office before I’ve had countless coffees and an hour of sulking. The solution? Change your job to shooting sunrises!

I got up at 5am for about 3 weeks in Australia. Didn’t need an alarm clock as when you’re bush camping and dawn approaches, my internal “time to shoot” alarm simply goes off in sync with nature and I wake up. Well; you also wake up as it’s getting stinking hot and all the birds, mossies and flies wake you up as I was sleeping outside with no tent. It still feels so bloody early but as soon as I’m out there you realise it is the best time of the day. It’s the time for capturing spectacular scenes like this one:

Click to see large size on my gallery! Copyright Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

Hawk Dreaming Sunrise Cloudscape Panorama
© Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

Standing at the East Alligator River (with no alligators; just crocs) at 6am watching this light show is simply mindblowing. Imagine it is 6am, 25 degrees and Mother Nature rules the world. Every single sound (apart from my camera) is orchestrated by nature; every single light ray is controlled by nature. No people, no buildings, no power lines, nothing to distract. Just 100% pure humbling power of nature taking you back to When Dinosaurs Ruled The World. Sometimes scenes are so beautiful you just want to forget about the camera, sit down wishing you could live here and hoping the future never comes. 
(oh yes there was a million mosquitoes as well, all part of the nature experience)

This is a simple stitch; it is only two very wide horizontal images shot at 17mm stitched. It is a technique I use sometimes as I feel it better preserves the extreme 17mm wide angle look compared to shooting say 8 vertical shots but the stitch still gives me a wider view than 17mm. Nature did all the work as I did very little post processing of this. I set the white balance and added a vignette and a bit of shadow detail recovery and we’re done.

I recommend getting up for every single sunrise, especially in tropical Australia. Often in the tropical bush the heat and haze of the day mixed with smoke from bushfires can result in a muted sunset. Sunrise on the other hand gets the fresh clean morning air to work with. Here; the sunrises rule the world.

15 Comments on “Where Sunrises Rule the World”

  1. Thats the image I was looking for.
    Cool story, pretty much how i feel about places like Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon. Sometimes taking the picture is more an afterthought and you would rather just time stand still forever at a certain spot.

  2. Great shot mate ,
    The clouds just pull you into the image .
    Im the same when out camping for some reason you all ways waking up early , pitty i wasnt into photography back then as saw some amazing sunrises

  3. Flemming you should submit a story about shooting Hawk Dreaming to Better Photography. I did with my Kimberley trip and it is being published this December. A good way to lift your profile in Australia. I think with your writting skills and images it would be snapped up by Peter Eastway. He just needs a bit of how to to justify putting it in the mag.

    Great image, clouds look like they are trying t escape the edge of the photo.

  4. Kirk, thanks mate!

    Christian, thanks very much mate. Brilliant idea, would be amazing if I could get an article in Better Photography! Looking forward to your Kimberley article and have sent you an email.

    The "pulls you into the image" and "clouds escaping" feeling is the 17mm on a full frame at work and I love this look for clouds, the reason why I shot it as 2 horizontal images. At 17mm the clouds are stretched out and becoming almost like a ceiling, I reckon it is an awesome effect for landscapes when you encounter this sort of cloudscape.

  5. lovely image Flem, The feeling of cloud dispersion outwards from the horizon sets this one off. I personally prefer sunrises over sunsets.I feel it is just a great way to start the day and often no matter where you are, fewer people are up and about. Then again I see the sunrise almost everyday. 🙂 In saying this I am planning on a walk and a sunset shoot somewhere along the coast this evening.

  6. haha Flem…perhaps it's a 'Copenhagen' thing…My brother in law doesn't seem to get up too early either. Though I haven't been too far outbush with him yet… 🙂

  7. Hehe, well actually I still wake up at around 4.30am every single morning – ready to go bush and shoot. Then I discover I'm in my flat in Copenhagen so I just read a bit and then fall asleep again half an hour later!

    Will get some sunrises this Winter though. Sun doesn't rise until 9am so makes it easier!

  8. great photo, I love the wide angle look with the clouds! I just noticed the tree in the foreground and realised the grand scale of this landscape. Cool!

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