Imagine this image . . .

Imagine this image: A well toned fitness trainer running along the beach. She is silhouetted against the water by the beautiful, warm light of the rising sun. That was the plan for yesterday morning. It didn’t happen. It went down like this. . .

5:15 am – Step outside, mostly clear skies with a few clouds. Moon shining brightly. The forecast is for a sunny day. This will be great!
6:00 am – Leave for the photo shoot.
6:37 am – Arrive at the destination, it is getting cloudier by the minute.
7:00 am – The client arrives, the sky is almost totally overcast with just a thin band of clear sky between the clouds and the eastern horizon. Not looking good.
7:11 am – Sunrise, time to shoot. No sun to be seen. It is a flat, gray light morning.
7:20 am – We can see just a tiny hint of pink in one small area of the clouds. Still hoping for a break in the clouds with just a few minutes of warm, morning sunshine. No such luck. We talk about the light, and families (we have worked together before), and possibilities for the NEXT time we try this.
7:36 am – We take a few pictures in the gray light, “just because we are there”.
7:45 am – The client and I leave.

Some mornings are golden, some aren’t.

I know this of course. Many a morning I’ve gotten up early, only to have a beautiful sunrise fail to appear. Ask any landscape photographer.  But it is more painful when a client also gets up at zero dark thirty for an early shoot, only to have the light not develop. Good clients understand this but I still found myself apologizing for the non-appearance of the sunlight we wanted.

Sigh.