I am lazy, and I suspect I share this trait with the majority of people reading this. How many times have you woken up to a glorious day, only to think “I can’t be bothered to go out for a walk / photography trip / etc.”? Like others, I manage to push past that lethargy most of the time and get out in the fresh air and have a fantastic time. What baffles me is that I never regret it, yet I still have that same reluctance next time around.

With photography it’s a harder thing to overcome. As photographers, we all know that the “golden hour” is when we should all be out and about with our cameras. The results all prove that it is well worth the effort. Yet, how many of us get out at this time more than a handful of times in a year, if that?

For me, additional motivation was required, which came when I said that I was going to produce a book (“Working the View”). If you need to get 40 superb photographs in a year, then you can no longer ignore the fact that you need to get out early and late in the day, even in summer when dawn is before 4am. OK, so maybe I waited until it was after 5am, but that’s still early when you have to haul yourself out of bed and drive at least half an hour to where you want to photograph.

Were the results worth it? You bet they were. Not only were the photographs successful, but the whole experience of being out and about at that time, watching the colour seep into the landscape, the mist rise, the shafts of sunlight burst through. I’ll be out at dawn every day from now on, if only I can get out of my warm bed………………..