Sunrise Surprise

Mon 28th Apr, 2014

Sunrise at Bempton was off to a shaky start the other morning. After inexplicably being wide awake at 3am I decided to haul myself out of bed, gather up my kit and head out to the cliffs. A slight miscalculation with timing meant walking down to Staple Newk in the dark with about an hour’s wait for sunrise…not a bad spot to be though. There was a gentle breeze and the moon and stars were still shining brightly. I could just about make out the gannets as they slumbered on the rocks below. All was quiet and unusually tranquil for such an exposed location.

As daylight approached I began to notice thick, dark clouds gathering. At around 5.50am, when I expected to catch the first glimpse of the sun peaking over the horizon, there was nothing but increasing amounts of cloud and a dull grey light. The gannets began to stir. The situation didn’t seem to improve over the next half an hour. It was getting light but the sun was obscured so photos looked drab. I contemplated calling it a day and began to pack up my kit, but just as I did the thick bank of cloud which was hanging over the sea broke and through it gleamed orange shards of glorious sunlight.

As some of the clouds began to disperse the cliffs were briefly lit up with a lovely auburn light which appeared to invigorate the seabirds. Soon the air was filled with gannets, fulmars, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots, all hurtling through the air in a frenetic mass of sound and colour going about their morning routines, fishing, feeding, shouting and fighting.

With so many birds in the air it’s easy to get overwhelmed and can be a little tricky to focus on individuals. Tracking specific birds through the viewfinder for as long as possible I attempted some backlit images by following them until they were lined up with the sun. If done correctly it’s possible to produce a stunning silhouette and halo effect, but it’s easy to misjudge it and end up over-exposing, particularly with small, fast moving subjects. The sunlight sparkled on the water making for a wonderful backdrop.

The lovely long shadows and deep orange glow of first light doesn’t last long. As the sun rose higher the light began to get a little harsh and so I tentatively packed up and made my way slowly back to the car. About half way along the path I could see a number of gannets hovering just along the edge of the cliffs and as I got closer I could see they were landing on the grassy verge. I still had my camera by my side so I dumped my bags and crawled through the grass to get a little closer. As I watched a seemingly continuous procession of gannets were coming in to land, looking around for a few seconds, pulling some grass out with their beaks then taking off and heading back to their nests. As soon as one bird took off another one would land. I lay in the grass for about 15-20mins - it was a magnificent sight!

Every time I make the effort to get out for a sunrise I tell myself I should do it more often. Whether it’s for landscape or wildlife photography it’s always a special time to be out. 

George Stoyle