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Writer's pictureSimon Bratt

The Early Moaning Photographer

Updated: Aug 25, 2022


The Early Morning Moaning photographer...

Why is it so hard to get up early in the mornings?! I do my best to get to sleep earlier but it's always a struggle. I guess I'm just more of a night owl than a cheerful member of the dawn chorus.

Anyway it has been freezing cold (only just though) here in Norfolk in January, and if I wanted to catch the best of the frost I knew I had to get up and out early. Admittedly getting up this time of year, when the sunrise is at a more reasonable time, is nothing compared to the unbelievably early mornings of the spring and early summer when I have to stumble out of bed before 3am to capture the start of daylight. Maybe though it feels harder during the winter because it looks so cold outside and bed is sooo warm and comfy.

This morning, after reminding me of my early morning plans I had delightedly told her the night before, my wife, not so gently, nudged me out of bed. Oh she can be so smug at times when she can just snuggle up and go back to sleep. The thing is, by the time I've had breakfast I always wonder what I'd been making such a fuss about, and I'm always excited to see what Jack Frost has been making for me.

Thermals on, a warm hat and a flask of hot tea ease the pain of the bone biting cold but once immersed in the planning and taking of shots I soon forget the temperature. I know it's a short window of opportunity and I have to make decisions quickly before the ice melts, the frost disappears and the moment has passed.

I love the effect frost and frozen water has on any objects, especially when you look really really closely. Ice crystals turn normal everyday items into magical objects that look like they have been sprinkled with fairy dust from an, as yet, undiscovered land.

After checking and working on my images from the frosty shoot, I captured between 20 or 30 photographs I am very pleased with. So of course, it was fun, and this time, well worth it.

Below are three sneak previews from the shoot before they are all uploaded for sale here.

and here

Thank you Jack, you delivered.

Simon Bratt

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