The Night Unfolds

Every landscape photographer keeps one eye on the weather outside the window, knows the times of sunrise at sunset and keeps a handful of apps on their phones that help predict the cloud cover and the direction of the sun. Every landscape photographer curses the professional forecasters after an hours drive at 4am to a non existent sunrise. Many is the time I've had to stop looking out of the window as a fantastic sunset develops and I'm still stuck at work. The Peak District often taunts us with the single band of cloud at the horizon to obscure the sun as it sets. So sunsets are tricky and the weather often goes against us.

One weather pattern I do like is an intense rainstorm which clears just before sunset. This seems to generate great light as the storm somehow freshens up the atmosphere. To boot, it can create a great contrast between dark lingering storm clouds in one direction and superb bright warm light in the other direction. I love that combination.

So a last minute dash out with my camera was in order when Friday night beers were cancelled and mother nature looked like it would conjure up something special after an afternoon of thunder on a hot summers day. I knew that I couldn't risk driving to far and miss any potential but I have a back up set of trees for just such occasions. Everyone needs a set of back up trees.

The last minute decision proved a good one, and the sunset sky which unfolded was a sight to behold. The set of photos below shows the changes to both the fantastic cloud patterns and the colours that appeared just over one 15 minute period starting at sunset, 9pm, and then as the deeper blue of the sky as the night sky took over.


Sunset and the orange clouds start appearing

The clouds pattern break out and the colours deepen

The sky was so full that a vertical shot is in order

I moved location slightly and waited 5 mins for the blues to take over

Finally, I changed to a long lens to isolate a single tree in the afterglow