Hey Everyone! Hope you've had a great New Year so far. This week I want to talk about a tradition that I and my photography wingman Robert have been doing the last 6 years or so.  It's to capture the first light of the new year. Each year we try to capture something different from the highest point on the east coat (Mount Mitchell) to the coat at Carolina Beach. We attempted a shoot from the rooftop of a hotel in Charlotte NC but the weather really got us there. But each year we go out and shoot something different. This year was no different. We were planning to go to Florida to shoot Saint Augustine but that plan kind of fell through so this year we decided to stay fairly local and shoot first light through a swamp.  Living in eastern North Carolina finding a swamp is very easy as they are very abundant. But which one. We decided to go to a state park that we had visited before a few years ago. Merchants Millpond State Park in the north eastern part of the North Carolina.

Merchants Millpond State Park- From where we live to the park is about a 2 1/2 hour drive so we had to leave early. So we planned a departure for 4 AM. Kind of early even for me. Now I really haven't shot anything lately but a Christmas parade I had to get my gear ready for the shoot. You know format SD cards, Charge batteries, Clean gear. It also has been kind of cold the last couple of weeks and (Max doesn't like to get cold) so I packed up some cold weather gear to include insulated coveralls, gloves , neck gator, and some electric hand warmers and stocking cap. So we met at Roberts house and headed out into the darkness.  GPS set and on our way. When driving in the dark everything seems to look the same so nothing really to see but we did have lively conversation like always. When driving in this situation we are always on the lookout for deer. I have hit a couple in my travels in years past and we even had a camera club member hit one on the way back from a night shoot on the coast. We saw a few and even had to take some evasive action to miss one of them but we made it to our destination with no problems. When we got there we noticed that the gates were locked keeping us out of the parking lots that we wanted park. They didn't open up until 8am which would be too late for us. So we found a parking spot outside of the park and hiked in. Hiking in the dark with headlamps on wasn't too bad and neither of us old guys fell down. We found our spot and waited for the sun to show itself. 

The Shoot. To me shooting sunrises is all about the before the sun breaks the horizon and right at the breach so you can get stardust. Of course using a tripod because of the low light in the beginning. But after a while you will have enough light to get the camera off of the tripod.  I brought 3 lenses with me but mostly used the 20-70mm but also used 70-300 and a 16-35mm. We had some cloud cover that when the sun is below the horizon really gives color to the clouds and we had some great reds and oranges in the beginning. After a while we decided to change our position to another location to capture the sun breaking the horizon. Of course there were trees in the horizon so not as prolific as say at the beach shot but still very good. We shot for about an hour or so and then headed out to get some breakfast and on the way home.  All in all it was a great shoot and lots of fun. 

This is a great tradition that Robert and I have started and maybe you should try to start also. It's a great way to start your photography year. Until next week Get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out some more of my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link

Video by Robert O'Sullivan