Some Luck Involved

Yesterday, I awoke a bit late. I think it was around 4:30. To be clear, it’s not late for normal people, but it is for me considering how early I’ve been waking and going out just lately. I have tended to be out and shooting by 5:00 or close to it, and I didn't feel like rushing about. After not being able to go back to sleep, however, I did arise about 15 minutes later at 4:45.

Undecided and not in a hurry, I sipped a somewhat leisurely cup of coffee. It was 5:30. Was that too late? It depended on where I would go.

There are two almost adjacent spots by the river that I didn't think would be totally dependent on good and early light. As it eventuated, I got light anyway as we shall see after this ↓ first photo.

↑ Last time we visited the restaurant with the patio, Sue noticed that we could get a good view of the clock tower through a gap in the trees from the parking lot, and the tree branches would provide a frame. Unexpectedly, when editing, I decided to remove the framing branches and just show the tower ↑ against the sky. I think it is an effective image. In retrospect, it would ne nice to see the flag better, but I wasn't thinking about that at the time, and there wasn't much wind anyway.

I had been photographing the tower from way out in the parking lot, but when I got nearer the building to take a picture or two that didn't work out, I saw some unanticipated sunrise glow through the trees. Then, I noticed that the gate to the patio was open. 

Somewhat boldly, went I onto the empty patio for there were neither customers nor workers for me to disturb at that hour. Besides, I am a patron and felt somewhat at ease taking this liberty.

There was some nice light over the former Boulton Brown Mill (building near centre, middle).

I took more photos in the next few minutes, some of town hall, but that one ↑ and this one ↓ were the best. This one ↓ was only about 5 minutes after that ↑ earlier photo, but the sky had changed quite a lot in that short time. Note: the outline of the old mill is more visible in this image.

I don't always do this, but I did remove distracting elements in all of these photos. Aside from what I already mentioned about the first photo, there were also some branches to remove in the latter two, as well as a bit of fence railing in one of them.

All in all, this was a somewhat lucky and serendipitous excursion. My good fortune was in deciding to go out despite the later-than-usual time and then ending up in a somewhat unplanned spot, and after that, even finding the gate to the restaurant patio open. Finally, there was that unexpected but very fine sunrise.