4 AM and the alarm clock is going off, loud and insistent. Because you told it to. Because last night you had the fine idea to get up early to get to a good location to photograph the sunrise. But now, in the light of day (which is actually still two hours away) you are rethinking that fine idea. After all, who will know you wimped out?

You will. So don’t rethink, just repeat after me, “Stick with the plan!”

Several years ago I finished an assignment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and, having heard wonderful things about the Boundary Waters area along the Canadian border, took a couple of extra days to head up to Ely. I was going to have two mornings to shoot sunrise.

The first morning I was up early, got to the location I had scouted and was all set to shoot as I watched the cloudy sky slowly gray into light with no drama, no color. Win some, lose some, but you have to get up and go if you are going to have a chance of getting a shot. Next morning the alarm goes off and I stumble to the window of my hotel room and look out, only to see a morning starting up like the previous day. So I bailed. Back into the still warm covers. When I woke again a little later I noticed some interesting color peeking around the drapes, and jumped up to check it out. 

It was one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen before or since. The whole sky was brilliant red, and reflected in the water of a nearby lake. I quickly pulled on some clothes, grabbed my camera, bag, and tripod and ran out onto a hotel deck near my room which gave me the best view I could get on short notice. This is what I got, which is not a bad photograph, but I will never be happy with it because I know what it could have been. I missed the peak color and reflections, and I didn’t have the better location I had planned on.

©Bill Durrence

This will forever be the one that got away, because I did not stick with the plan.

I don’t mean to suggest being overly dogmatic about this; if you see something better, be flexible and change your plan. But be sure it’s better, or stick with the plan.

I always look forward to teaching Nikon School in Boston because it means I’ll have a day or two to hang out and go shooting with my friend Bob Watts, a Nikon sales rep in the New England area. Bob still loves making pictures with the same passion he had when he started doing it decades ago. As he travels around the northeast for work, he keeps regional maps handy and marks good locations as he comes across them, with notations of subject and time of year, time of day when it would be good to come back to photograph the scene. So I always know he’s going to have an excellent adventure planned for us.

©Bill Durrence

In January, 2010, we headed out to catch sunrise on a snowy winter landscape he’s photographed many times, in Vermont. Getting to the location early and looking to the east where the sun was supposed to appear, all we could see was heavy cloud cover on the horizon. It did not bode well and we thought our hour long drive in the dark to get there was going to be a wasted trip.

©Bill Durrence

We shot for a while, but as we went through civil twilight (the half hour or so before sunrise) and watched the sky lighten we were convinced it was not going to happen. We kept thinking of a warm café with coffee and breakfast and talked about throwing in the towel, but never quite made it to the car to leave.

©Bill Durrence

Then, just at the moment the sun was supposed to break the horizon (I swear) the clouds at that exact spot opened up a crack and the sun burst through. We shot with one hand, while patting ourselves on the back with the other for our perseverance, sticking to the plan. We made some variations on the shot and when the beautiful light started to wane, we headed off for that warm café.

©Bill Durrence

©Bill Durrence

The reward I gave myself—eggs, pancakes, and a rasher of crispy fried bacon—was almost as good as the moment when the sunlight hit those red farm buildings.