Shooting at golden hour is always beautiful. Especially on sunrise. A new day is starting, everyone is waking up, rushing to work and the light is… something else. If you’re out early enough, you will also catch the blue hour. This brief stage, before the sun goes above the horizon, when everything is blue. It creates a very strong melancholic feeling.
When the sun rises, it is usually breath-taking. The gold light, harsh shadows in different shapes, lots of people out. It is usually the best time of day to take pictures. It’s probably even too good.
Probably every photographer who has taking pictures at sunrise knows how quickly golden hour goes away. When we realize that, most of us will get in a hurry to try and take as many photos as they can. A phenomenon known as golden hour anxiety. I felt it today…
Every now and then I get up before dawn and head into the city center to shoot. Today, I got up and took my Nikon film camera and an old point-and-shoot Beroflex with a black and white film. When I got out of the subway, I realized that I was too early.
Blue hour was just starting. I used the time to decide where I want to go. Before I knew it, golden hour was starting, and the light was beautiful. I thought I’d miss the show and I sped up. I took a few pictures but I wasn’t fully convinced, so I started going even faster. I felt anxious that I wouldn’t get any decent shots, so I stopped thinking that much about composition. I felt like I had to be somewhere when I really didn’t.
I haven’t seen the photos I took today as I just left the film for developing but I’m pretty sure there are going to be no keepers from today. Why was I in such a hurry? I thought I had to take amazing photos. I didn’t. I’d gone out to do what I enjoy and have a good time. It didn’t matter if I took the shot of my life or not. The whole idea of getting up at sunrise is to have a good time, not just do my best to get great photos. I’m not on an assignment.
Trying to get better at what I do is something I always strive to achieve. Rushing through golden hour in the hope that around the corner, the light might be just a bit better is not trying to get better, though. Photography is about taking your time and making sure the photo says what you want it to say. This can’t happen if you’re in a hurry. You need to slow down. Analog photography helps with that…
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