Why even this night owl loves early morning photography

Morning fog slowly burns off over the marsh on Amelia Island in early spring. ©Lee Anne White

I just wrapped up teaching Explorations in Landscape and Place: Photographing Close to Home for Santa Fe Workshops. One of the subjects that came up was photographing in the morning—in particular, how difficult it is to get up that early. I heard groans in our Zoom classroom.

Admittedly, I don’t get up early nearly as often as I used to. I’m a night owl by nature who would much rather read well into the wee hours. However, I do get up early when I need to. If my focus for the day is landscape or garden photography, I try to head out the door before dawn, no matter how difficult it is to roll out of bed. The hardest part for me is hitting the road without coffee or breakfast. Preparing breakfast would just mean having to get up earlier, plus there are rarely facilities available at that hour. But as I head down the road toward my destination, all of that is forgotten and the excitement begins to build. (And after a few hours of making photographs, coffee and breakfast is so incredibly satisfying!)

Why bother going so early? Unless they’ve blown the forecast (which I always check before leaving), the light is softer and the air is calmer. Plants are at their freshest and often covered in dew. You can find bees and insects resting quietly on flowers. The odds of seeing wildlife increase significantly. And it’s often a good time for fog, which, as you probably know by now, I love. All of these are good for landscape photography.

There are other reasons, too, and I find them equally compelling. Even when I haven’t had my coffee, I’m still at my freshest in the morning. I haven’t read the news, been sidetracked by emails, or had to deal with unexpected distractions yet. I’m calm, focused and present, which allows me to slip into a state of creative flow much more quickly.

And almost always, I have the destination to myself. Most folks just don’t get up that early. Traffic is light to non-existent. Businesses and stores haven’t opened their doors. I can find parking more easily and it is less likely that I’ll have people wandering into the places I want to photograph. (One word of caution: If you are heading to a park, make sure there won’t be a locked gate to greet you upon arrival. That’s a bummer.)

Yes, evening can be very nice and I have come to embrace it over the years, but the atmosphere is different. Plus, I am often tired and there are definitely more people out and about. On hot days, plants may be just as wilted as I sometimes am. Lightly overcast days, of course, are a gift. I wish they came along more often and could be more reliably forecast. I’ll get up early and make photographs all day with lightly overcast skies.

I can think of many times I wished I had gotten up earlier to make photographs. I don’t recall a single time I wished I had slept in instead. Even when the weather wasn’t quite what I hoped for, I was still glad to be there. Out in the landscape or in a beautiful garden is a perfect place to start just about any day. I can always take a nap later or sleep in tomorrow.

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My PRINT SHOP is finally up and running again. (After creating a new website last year, it took longer than expected to build out this component.) Right now, my offering includes a selection of black-and white archival pigment prints in 20x20 or either 9x9 or 10x10, depending on the series. I will continue adding more prints over the coming weeks and months, including some new color seascapes and landscapes. And if there is anything you are interested in that is not featured in the shop, please feel free to inquire by email. These are prints only (no matting or framing).

Monday (August 7) is the entry deadline for IN PRAISE OF TREES at PhotoPlace Gallery. In this exhibit we honor trees in all their states: majestic specimens or struggling seedlings, in summer plumage or winter austerity, grown in nature or nurtured by man. All capture methods and processes are welcome. As the juror, I will be tasked with selecting 35 photographs for the Exhibition Gallery in Vermont and 40 additional photographs for the online gallery. All 75 images will be published in an exhibition catalog and remain on the website.

My three-week, live Zoom class for Maine Media Workshops, CRASH COURSE IN PHOTOGRAPHIC CREATIVITY, launches this coming Thursday (August 10). It’s not too late to register, but only a few spaces remain. Why not join in for the fun?

Coming up this fall: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF PLACE, a five-day intensive based in beautiful Mid-Coast Maine. With cooler temperatures, it is a perfect time to get out and explore the rocky coastlines, forests, marshes, meadows and villages that give this region such as strong sense of place.