Spectacular Sunrise at the Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort

Earlier this week, my wife and I awoke at 0430 to make the trip over to the Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort in Hampshire, England. I read the weather forecasts the night before and was excited for the prospect of a nice sunrise after weeks of grey and overcast skies. The winds were to be calm, the temperatures mild, rain unlikely, and cloud cover was predicted at around 35%…perfect.

I’m not going to lie. When the alarm went off at 0430, I was extremely tempted to remain in bed next to my beautiful wife and enjoy the last few hours of sleep. However, as I lay there in the seconds after the alarm, pondering that choice, a different thought emerged. How would I feel if I woke up and looked outside to see I had missed out on the opportunity to capture a beautiful sunrise? I knew I would be kicking myself all day and later on wishing I could be editing the photos I missed out on.

So, I rolled out of bed and went downstairs. I put on the coffee. I readied and double-checked my gear. Camera batteries, check. Memory cards, check. Tripod and adaptors, check. My wife and I loaded into the car and set out to the hill fort. As we made our way, I watched the sky begin to lighten with great anticipation. The blue-hour began and as the horizon brightened, optimistic anticipation morphed into outright excitement. The clouds were well above the horizon and arranged in some striking patterns and I knew this was going to be something special.

Thankfully, there is a fairly large car park right at the base of the hill fort so we were able to park the car and walk to the summit in very little time. This was our first visit to the Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort, so I took a few minutes to try and scout out a good composition for capturing what I knew would be an epic sunrise. There is a plinth at the top that I thought made an interesting foreground for the wide shots of the fields surrounding the summit.

As the sun continued its rise, I was on the lookout for something different for a foreground. Nearby a lone small tree stood out in the field. Spotted first by my wife, I initially was skeptical as the tree was not visually interesting to me from our current vantage point. However, I investigated it and once I changed my perspective I was glad I made the walk around. As it turned out, my wife’s instincts were right on the money. The shots of the tree below lit by the sun at an angle turned out to be my favorite captures of the morning.

Our luck held as we noticed a few highland cows (hairy cows or ‘heddy coos’ as we understood them on a visit to Scotland several years ago) grazing in the fields. I positioned myself off to the side to try and get some nice dynamic lighting. I had to wait patiently as they were much more interested in filling their bellies and spent most of their time with their noses buried in the grass.

This entire morning left me feeling grateful and humbled. The epic sunrise was well worth getting out early for but it was more than that. Standing atop the hill in the quiet morning with my wife, my camera, and my coffee I felt an immense happiness to be where I was. In that moment, I felt the warm thankfulness that I was able to witness the sunrise, share it with the love of my life, and capture a few images that I could both share with others and look back on in the years to come. When I do view these images years down the road, I will undoubtedly be transported back to the hilltop and remember this morning with great fondness and I know that the immense sense of gratitude I felt then will resonate across time and rekindle in my soul.

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