A New Day Beckons

Half an hour til sunrise and I'm on the way to shoot (hopefully) a river scene, somewhere I had been to before, but in May. The Avon Valley Footpath, immediately south of Fordingbridge, that I was attempting to follow, was mud-laden and chewed up by feet and in the semi-dark I was dodging brambles, barbed wire and big holes.

Carrying tripod in its bag, a rucksack full of juicy lenses plus the full-frame D700 and standard 50mm f1.4 on my shoulder, I just had to stop and snap this one, handheld, over the fields - and ironically, despite the many hours getting colder, wet feet as mud went up to mid-calf and tripod-bound carefully composed images, this one immediately came across as being what epitomises this very special time of day is all about.

True, I was cursing and raggedy and couldn't enjoy the view at the time - the flocks of birds only registered in my mind long enough for me to click the shutter again.

I didn't make it to the river - I went the wrong way; I plumped for sunrise over some fields which were OK to good.

This one has been cropped by about 40%, mostly from the left and the contrast upped a bit - a testament to this excellent little lens that it still holds good detail at a fairly wide aperture.