Sunrise at Bowerman’s Nose

In part one of this two-part blog from Bowerman’s Nose, I talked about returning to one of my favourite locations, planning for a sunrise shoot and sharing with you some of the images I took that evening. In part two I’m going to share with you the story and images from my sunrise shoot at Bowerman’s Nose.

At first, I wasn’t sure if the forecast conditions were going to be worth the 03:30 alarm call. As much as I love sunrises rise there is still something about a 03:30 alarm call that still fills me with dread. I’m much happier to take a risk on a 5 am alarm call, but anything alarm call that starts with 3 am needs to carefully be considered. Without a clear and concise weather forecast, I should have just postponed for another day but the images I had captured in part 1 had inspired me to take a risk. I set my alarm for 03:30 and crossed my fingers.

The alarm went off and by the time I was in my car with a large, strong cup of coffee, I was surprisingly upbeat and excited. Even before I set off, I could see the sky was looking interesting so I was hopeful that my early alarm call might pay off.

Around Sunrise

Even though I had explored the area at sunrise to try and work out where I would want to shoot from at sunrise, there was still an element of working out on the fly. You can plan and visualise all you want but sometimes it’s not until you are there, and you can see what the light is like that you can work out what your compositions are going to be for that particular trip.

Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/13, 5 secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser. — **Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #1, Dartmoor, Devon** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/13, 5 secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser.

I don’t mind having this unknown element in my plans. It adds a little excitement to the adventure! As the sun rose the colours and the light continually changed forcing me to move around the location trying out different compositions.

Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 20mm, f/11, 0.4 secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser. — **Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #2, Dartmoor, Devon** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 20mm, f/11, 0.4 secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser.

One of the main changes between shooting the tor at sunrise is that it becomes possible to photograph it from the other side. The side I show in these photographs would typically be in shadow at sunset. I found it interesting to see how different the tor looked at this angle.

Bowerman's Nose Sunrise Panorama #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 20mm, f/11, 1/6th secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser, 7 image stich panorama. — **Bowerman's Nose Sunrise Panorama #1, Dartmoor, Devon** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 20mm, f/11, 1/6th secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser, 7 image stich panorama.

After Sunrise

After capturing my sunrise images, I packed my back and intended to go home. I had been exploring the hill behind the tor and as I descended back down the hill, I began to wonder what some of my sunset composition would look like with the light coming from a different direction. As I had plenty of time to spare, I decided to hang around a little longer and wait for the sun to get high enough to illuminate the areas of the ground currently in shadow.

Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #3, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 17mm, f/8, 1/30th secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser, 4 image focus stack. — **Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #3, Dartmoor, Devon** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 17mm, f/8, 1/30th secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser, 4 image focus stack.

It took a little longer than I thought for the light to reach those areas and I was starting to get concerned that the light would then be too harsh. Fortunately, even though it was an hour after sunrise, the light remained soft and golden, illuminating the foreground nicely. Though the compositions are like those that I might take at sunrise, I like the way the light from the rising sun makes them subtlety different.

Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #4, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 15mm, f/11, 1/80th secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser. — **Bowerman's Nose Sunrise #4, Dartmoor, Devon** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 15mm, f/11, 1/80th secs at ISO 64, Kase Filters K9 circular polariser.

After taking those images I felt I’d had a successful morning and I’d captured some nice images. At the very least I felt that the 03:30 alarm call was well justified. Even without the photographs, it was a beautiful morning up on Dartmoor. With light winds and warm (for Dartmoor) temperatures, it was one of those mornings where is just fantastic to watch the start of the day.

As I left Bowerman’s Nose, I started to feel tired and hungry but also delighted that I’d made the effort to get up early. I love the buzz you get when you just know you’ve got some images on your memory card that are going to process well.

One thing is for sure, I will be returning to Bowerman’s Nose for another sunrise shoot. I won’t, however, be looking forward to that very early alarm call!