Perspectives

Don't always believe the weather forecast!

13/10/2013
It's Saturday morning, and it's cloudy and threatening rain. So we have the usual debate - what's the weather forecast like, and where shall we go? Hmmm, both the BBC and the Met office forecasts aren't too promising, but it looks like there are some breaks in the cloud predicted, at least for the middle of the day, along the south coast. But the forecast for later in the day isn't so great - with cloudy, overcast conditions predicted for sunset. Despite the slightly downbeat forecast, we decide to head for the Dorset coast and see what mother nature brings!
We arrive at Kimmeridge just after lunch, and just as predicted there are breaks in the cloud, so we head for the beach and start setting up some timelapse shots to capture the clouds moving across the sky. I've decided to just bring the Nikon V1 for this - with 2 tripods, the slider and a backpack full of camera kit, any extra gear becomes a real burden, especially if you don't think the light or weather is going to be great!
After shooting for a few hours, and with a couple of hours to go before sunset, as predicted, a veil of high cloud starts to roll in....... It's time to decide whether we carry-on or cut our losses...... The thought process goes something like this... There's still some detail in the sky, it's not raining and we're by the sea... This means there's still a chance of getting some shots, so let's stick around and keep shooting....
Around half an hour before sunset, the sky clears, the sun breaks through and lights up the cliffs... Suddenly I'm happier, and get some shots during the 20 minutes of amazing light. Then the sun disappears behind some cloud close to the horizon and again my spirits start to drop.....
Then, just as the sun reaches the horizon the sky lights up as the light hits a bank of cloud overhead, filling the landscape with an eerie orange glow and the clouds to the west transform from dirty grey to a spectacular red.....
It's one of those sunsets you dream of - beautiful light amazing clouds and colours that people often think you 'invented' in Photoshop.... and to think we almost didn't bother hanging around, just because the weather forecast suggested that it wasn't going to be a great sunset....