A cold winter's morning in mid-January 2022 and I'm stood near the summit of Foel Fenlli, an iron age hill fort in the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near my home in northeast Wales.
I'd made the sweaty and breathtaking climb up this steep hill (those iron age folk must have been tough!) in order to create a time laspe of the first full moon of the year (known as the 'Wolf Moon') as it set over the Vale of Clwyd, stretched out to the west beneath me.
But even as I was filming the moonset I was aware of the approaching dawn in the skies behind me, with a thin layer of altocumulus starting to catch the warm light of the rising sun as it drew nearer to the eastern horizon.
So as soon as the moon finally disappeared into a low bank of cloud over the mountains of Snowdonia to the west, I rapidly reconfigured and repositioned my camera to catch the gorgeous effect as deep orange underlighting on the altocumulus clouds spread across the heavens, with the slope of Foel Fenlli providing a dramatic foreground in silhouette.
And if you look carefully, you can even catch the silhouette of a few hardy sheep on the skyline, braving the cold to find grazing amongst the heather.
All too soon the show was over as the sun broached the horizon and the warm light of dawn morphed into the cooler tones of daylight.
It was time to pack away and head back down Foel Fenlli for the short drive home and a much anticipated hot coffee and toast.
But what a way to start the day, revelling in the beauty and wonder of God's creation.
Filename - clwydians sunrise timelapse 03
Camera - Canon EOS 6DMK2
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 1/15 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/100 sec @ f/4, ISO100
Filters - None.
Shooting interval - 2 second
Music - 'Country Blues' by Andy Litherland.
Location - Clwydian Range AONB, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and 1080p HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 25 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2023 unless otherwise stated.