Yesterday I posted a picture on Facebook of an early morning sunrise through a foggy sky. I did not get many likes. My followers seem to prefer more picturesque shots, and those with dogs at the seaside. But I love these early morning and late evening photographs of dramatic. colourful skies. I have lots of them.
I thought today I would look back at some of the sunrise and sunset pictures I have in my collection. Even as a teenager I was interested in trying to photograph the sunrise. I recall getting up very early both on a visit to Brechin and from the Ochil Hills near Dollar, to get the sun rising over a summer horizon. But in those days of black and white film the result was never very satisfying. It is the colour that does it. Some day I may go for a hunt through my old back and white negatives and see if I can find any of these early failures.
Starting at home, here are a few pictures taken from Hatton. It all started that July morning when I was woken by the orange glow of the sun through the bedroom window. In the first picture you can see the refelction of the sun in the window when I staggered outside with my camera. The fog muted the intensity of the sun and gave everything a wonderful orange glow. I walked through the village snapping away, all on my own in the early sunrise hour.
Hatton sunsets also appear in my collection, including the one which shows the spire of the West Kirk, now sadly no longer there because of the fire which burned it down. This shot was submitted to the BBC Landward programme and appeared on their website. They were celebrating midsummer and asked for sunset pictures from all over Scotland. But even without the sun the skies to the north west of Hatton in the summer can be wonderful in the late evening.
Another great place for photographs in Slains Castle. I walked up there on a January morning to catch the rising sun, fortunately not too early in midwinter. It was a wonderful morning and I collected more than a few pictures. Just three here: the sun rising out of the sea with the castle to the side, and one of the sunrise framed in the window of the ruined castle. Lily was with me that morning and she seemed to admire the sunrise too.
My finaly pictures are from Rhoscolyn in Angelsey where Tony and Rosie have a house. Winter skies can be wonderful there, like these two quite different skies taken from the house garden over the village, one in snow. But it is the colour of the sky which grabs me. It always does.
