You say to someone you’ve been awake since 4am and they wail for you, WHYYYY. Or they instantly feel sorry for you as if it wasn’t a choice.

Photographers, you all know, 4 am in the spring and summer is not worth missing out on.

So we set our alarms, we check the weather, we prep our gear and it feels like you’ve been sleeping for 3 minutes before that alarm tears you awake, bleary eyed and really having a serious debate with yourself about whether it’ll be worth it. You might even go a peek outside, half hoping for a shit grey day to have already begun so you can slump back to bed. But no, the mist is forming, the orange and pink glow already mocking your tiredness. So we get up, tea is consumed, maybe some biscuits. We pull our heavy bags onto our backs, go outside where no matter the weather your body tells you it is too cold. Sometimes nausea even sets in momentarily (this is a real thing, early morning nausea is something photographers know far too well, thankfully our excitement overcomes).

We trudge to our pre-set location, on route we become more and more excited, fog rolling in, or a golden light setting the world on fire for us. There is nothing quite like a sunrise.

Is it worth it? ALWAYS.