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It's behind you!
The familiar cry from childrens' pantomimes sometimes applies in the world of photograpghy as well.
I was fully engrossed in photographing the view looking west into the setting sun at the stunning location of South Stack on the Island of Anglesey (Lighthouse #46) when my mobile started to ring.
Drat it, I thought, who can this be as I angrily fumbled in my pocket for the elusive phone.
It was my wife Liz, up on the top of the cliff, frantically telling me to look behind me.
It not being wise to ignore the missus, I looked behind and saw that a rain squall was coming our way, including a dramatic rainbow caused by the very sunset I had been trying to photograph in the opposite direction.
What a dilemma! I'd spent ages setting up my camera in exactly the right spot to photogragh the lighthouse against the setting sun, and although I'd already made plenty of exposures I was loathe to move in case the sunset got even more dramatic.
But I'm a sucker for rainbows (who isn't?), so with an agonised grunt I picked up my carefully placed camera/tripod set up and ran to (not over) the cliff edge on the other side of Ellin's Tower RSPB lookout post.
I must admit the view out over the cliffs and sea, with the rain squall and rainbow in the background, was stunning. I even had a patch of pink flowers to place in the foreground.
A polariser made the rainbow stand out even more and I spent a happy ten minutes in my new location taking various compositions as the dying light of the setting sun played over the rocks in front of me.
I never did make it back to my original spot before sunset, but never mind, I'm certainly glad I listened to my wife when she yelled 'It's behind you!'
Filename - rainbow cliffs 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 23mm
Exposure - 1 sec @ f16, ISO100
Location - South Stack, Anglesey, North Wales
This image - 640x800px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Polarising filter used to enhance rainbow
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