When I was Blissfully Unaware of the Golden Light

There was a time in my life when I just used to click pictures. I knew nothing about the lights, I knew nothing about composition, I knew nothing about the ISO, F stop and all that. But I liked to click pictures. Then along the way I picked up my DSLR and I started reading about photography. If only I had known the effect if would have on me.

For example to click this shot I knew the red glow on the top is going to be only either at sunrise or sunset. This was at sunset. To get that puddle I had to move to the far corner of the courtyard and sit down on the ground. It was only then that I got the partial reflection of the peak in the puddle. I have had much more success with the puddle at Palalmpur so after all this I am not one bit happy with my photograph. I checked for other puddles but I could find none that reflected the peak. And does the photograph tell you that some effort went into clicking it? Nah you might say, you have seen better right here at this blog! Still this was at sunset when I am anyway awake, wide awake.

Then comes the question of sunrise. The light is very good after sunrise for an hour or two and usually there is some drama in the sky much more than the flat and harsh light hours that you get most of the day.

The trouble is I do not like to get up at sunrise. And now that I know I might be missing on some good photography opportunities I cannot sleep as well! So here is how it goes these days. After arriving bone tired at some destination I tell myself to get up at sunrise. I use a simple google search to get the local sunrise and sunset times. I initially used to ask the locals but I was misled quite a few times so I decided to find out an app. After all locals have better things to do rather than getting up at the crack of the dawn.

After knowing the time I sometimes set my alarm clock for before the sunrise. And sometimes I tell myself that I might be too tired to get up so if I get up I do but I will not set up an alarm clock. Like this time at Gulmarg I did not set an alarm and I did not get up on the first day. It was a fine day I was told.  Then I got up the next day and there was no sunrise, only clouds. I will not try to explain how I felt because it can not be done in a civilized tongue. And this has always been a family friendly website.

And this gets repeated on every trip with more or less success. How I miss the days when I knew nothing of light, golden light and about photography at sunrise. Then holiday meant getting up when I felt like getting up or just before the breakfast ended up at the hotel. I still do not get up sometimes but the guilt!