Written by So, I went out this morning to photograph the dawn over Duttons pond. 8:20am (ish, from ‘the photographers ephemeris’, lovely app!)
I had a great time out in the dark making mistakes, trudging through the mud.
I was uncomfortable (too warm), had to juggle too many things (tripod cover, tripod, camera, camera bag, hat!)
HAT! A fedora is really NOT the right hat for photography, you get too warm, the brim gets in the way, there is no way to clip it to anything. LEARNING 
My camera bag is a pain, it is a basic shoulder strap sort of thing. it flops around when I bend over, it’s difficult to access things. Maybe I need a sling type of bag, to carry over one shoulder securely, and rotate around to the front when needed. more learning.
I started out using my current favourite lens (my new prime 50mm) but for decent wide angle it is simply not good, and I don’t have a polarising filter for it yet, so I quickly switched to my 28-80mm and slapped my polarising filter onto it. Looking at some other landscape photographs, I see that you can really add some drama by choosing a really short lens and picking out something to get close to. So maybe I need to look into some shorter lenses.
So, after all the pain and rough edges, I have learned some things, decided on some priorities. 1) I am NOT going to be spending any more money any time soon! But I will be reviewing future experiences with a view as to what I should buy next.
After a bit of careful cropping, I managed to get something pleasing.
This time of year is great for the lazy photographer, dawn and dusk are both at SANE parts of the day. I think tomorrow I may revisit the Locks, but at dusk, to see if there is a similar ‘lightshow’ once the sun goes down.