If I didn’t know better I’d swear that my body was playing an April Fool on me. I was awake at stupid o’clock yet again. I have a problem in that once my brain is awake it’s awake. It doesn’t matter if the rest of my body is sleeping the sleep of the dead, my brain is in charge and I have to get up. You’d think I would be used to it by now, after all, it has been happening for years, longer than I can remember. Now it’s not enough that my brain has woken up it needs to be doing something when it is up so this morning I found myself driving towards Cardiff, or more precisely, Cardiff Bay.
Parking up and grabbing a camera, lens, and tripod, the thought of travelling light appealed to me tonight, so I set off. A quick trip back to the car for my camera bag, just in case and I set off again. I like being out in the wee small hours when no one else is around, the night belongs to me and I am truly alone in the dark. I was out to photograph two of my favourite things the dark and water and Cardiff Bay is an ideal location for this. A wide expanse of dark water with the lights of nearby buildings reflected in the calm surface and the distant lights of Penarth, and if I was lucky, the moon. My starting point was ///cycles.reduce.start (I use what3words for my locations).
I was in luck, there was no wind, and although it had been raining it had stopped now, the sky was clear and the water was calm, I must have been a good boy. As I looked across the water I could just about see the old jetty supports in front of me lit up slightly by the new moon riding high in the sky over to my left. I knew that I was going to have to underexpose my shots to capture the scene in front of me as it truly was. Although the camera was saying the scene needed a 30-second exposure my first test shot was too bright and artificial. After experimenting I opted for 5 seconds at f/11 although these would change as my position and the night went on.
I changed location as the night went on moving over to ///faster.insect.gates to capture the sunrise over Roath Lock. I thought the sunrise would be special because of the colours I was starting to see in the sky and the reflections in the water. I wasn’t disappointed it was a remarkable sight and worth going out for. I spent some time taking in the sight before me, a sunrise always makes you feel good and glad to be alive. This one was no different and after the weather we have had over the last few months it was a welcome sight.
Finishing up with the sunrise I moved on again to ///yarn.update.best for my final few shots before heading for home. As the sky got lighter, people started to appear, walking their dogs, jogging or couples out for an early morning walk. It was time to go but it didn’t matter for the night had belonged to me.
