Winter sunrise at St. Mary’s Island

Arriving at St. Mary’s Island one morning in February, I was just in time to catch the wonderful orange glow of a winter sunrise on the partially snow-covered landscape.

As I wrote at the time, it wasn’t a particularly enjoyable morning—I had a horrible headache and a bad neck from poor sleep—but it did result in a number of nice images, including this shot I got with the GFX 50S and 100-200mm telephoto lens as I got out of the car.

Having arrived later than I should have, I had a bit of headless-chicken mode to at least catch some of the gorgeous light before going back to the car for the rest of my kit.

Among those slightly panicked shots, I managed this one.

This is a pretty reliable view of the lighthouse, bringing in the curve of the railing and benches as a leading line, and the low general light levels with orange sunrise highlights help accentuate the composition in what is still quite a calm, un-showy scene. Being early, the lack of people also certainly helps with the overall calmness of the image.

The patches of snow on the ground bring a bit of extra interest in what would otherwise be a bit of a block colour foreground on the grass and, again, act to emphasise the leading line up to the lighthouse.

I’ll look forward to this coming winter and watching for another opportunity to jump on with a snowy sunrise. And this time, I’ll try to be there on time!