My wife and I took a trip up to the Carolinas to visit my son recently. Which gave me the chance to photograph the sunrise at Jekyll Island’s Driftwood Beach on the way. As I’ve written before, Driftwood Beach is a dramatic landscape photography location even with mundane sunrises so I had high hopes for the morning.
Anita and I got to the beach a good 30 minutes before sunrise. That gave her time to sip some coffee while I scouted the beach for the best compositions. I’ve learned the hard way that the beach seems to change every time I visit as trees shift, fall, and move.
The color on the horizon was just starting to show in these first shots. There were nice partly cloudy skies which gave promise for more to come.
A few minutes later, it delivered on that promise.
That red streak of clouds that stretched from behind me toward the far horizon caught my eye. I jogged over to a cool fallen tree I had spotted earlier and used it as foreground.
I had time to use that same cloud in another composition (above) before the red streak faded away. I took a deep breath, reviewed a few photos, and looked up and down the beach for my next opportunity.
And then…the sky exploded!
The layer of ‘powderpuff’ clouds directly overhead turned a neon-like crimson as the first sunlight caught them.
Just breathtaking.
Honestly, I was jealous of Anita as she stood there just soaking it all in. I certainly didn’t have that luxury. I ripped 47 frames in the next 90 seconds knowing full well it wouldn’t last.
And it didn’t, in less than two minutes the color slipped away. I would have dearly loved another couple of minutes…
Keep in mind, that the sun hadn’t even breached the horizon yet. That wouldn’t happen for another 10 minutes. But the best sunrise photography is usually before dawn. And that was the case here…the show was over.
We packed up and headed back to the car. But we had huge smiles as we exercised our vocabulary trying to outdo each other’s description of what we just witnessed.
Not a bad way to start the day,
Cheers!
Jeff
PS: Check out my full article here about Driftwood Beach including maps and tips for photographers.
Related Images:
Views: 82