Best sunrise photo not quite what I had planned on the day

By Ian Middleton

Story behind the photo

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The best sunrise images are not always what you had planned. On this morning I had something different in mind, but got something far better.

You always wish for low lying mist in the Selska valley when out to photograph the iconic Saint Thomas church at sunrise. However, here it was definitely a case of: be careful what you wish for.

On this particular morning there was so much mist that the church was barely visible most of the time, and entirely covered the rest of the time.

My hope had been to capture a shot of the church protruding from the mist just as the sun crests the mountaintop off to the right. Alas, as the magical moment approached so did more mist. The church was completely enveloped.

Landscape photography is all about capturing the moment. And although the moment wasn’t the one I was hoping for, I scanned the scene in front of me and quickly determined where the moment would be. I knew where the sun was going to rise and quickly changed my composition to make the best of the moment.

I got two of my best sunrise images this morning, the one above the one below:

The church had a surprise for me

I didn’t get my magic moment with Saint Thomas church at sunrise, but did get another magic moment. And the church would have one more surprise for me later that morning……

All morning Saint Thomas had been popping in and out of the mist, and the light had been shining nicely on and off the mist. But never at the same time!

However, for one brief magical moment the two met in perfect harmony and I got the image below: