Living at the latitude of 53ºN, we in North Wales enjoy quite a significant variation in sunrise/sunset times and direction thoughout the year.
Towards midsummer, with the sun rising to the northeast, there's a great view to be had of the rising sun coming into view (weather permitting of course) behind the offshore Colwyn Bay windfarm, when viewed from the promenade on Llandudno's East Shore.
The only fly in the ointment to witnessing this event is that sunrise is around 5.00am, which, for me, means getting out of bed at 3.30am in order to be in place in good time for the spectacle.
But it's not such a hardship, as the normally heaving promenade is deserted at this time in the morning except for me and a few seagulls, and I can park right next to where I want to photograph from - not usually possible during 'normal' hours!
I'd been planning this timelapse shoot for quite some time beforehand, so when the weather forecast finally promised a clear morning I was up and off with freshly charged batteries and formatted memory cards to enjoy and photograph the sunrise.
So often these coastal photo shoots end in disappointment as the promised clear skies fail to materialise and clouds obscure the horizon, but not this time.
Although there were clouds present they were so thin that they didn't spoil the view of the sunrise, in fact they improved the effect, spreading wonderful colour across the sky and taking the edge off the sun's brightness.
A light breeze spinned the wind turbines round as the sun rose in just the right spot, and I kept on photographing at a frame every two seconds until the sun was too bright to record sensibly on my good old Canon 5D's sensor.
By then it was time to head back home and go to work - what a way to start the day!
Filename - windfarm timelapse 02
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens (1st sequence) - 17-40mm zoom @17mm
Lens (2nd sequence) - 100-400mm zoom @400mm
Exposure (1st sequence) 1/15 sec @ f11, ISO100
Exposure (2nd sequence) 1/6 sec @ f40, ISO100
Shooting interval (1st sequence) - 5 seconds
Shooting interval (2nd sequence) - 2 seconds
Location - Llandudno promenade, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p
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