Chasing Sunrise Color (Port of Barcelona)

Port at Dawn, #8 (from Montjuic). Barcelona, 2019

Many times, at least along the Mediterranean coast here in Catalunya, clouds can linger on the far horizons making actual official sunrise something of a non-event as the sun stays hidden behind said clouds at the appointed hour.

Many times, the light well before sunrise, as in the above image, is much better. This morning was a perfect example…really nice color starting maybe 30 minutes before official sunrise, then BLAH as a very shy sun came up, smothered behind the motherly skirts of a distant cloud bank.

So, a word to the wise–be in place with your camera an hour before sunrise (and consider staying a good hour after sunrise, too). There were several other cameras and tripods–accompanied by their human bean photogs–up on Montjuic with me on this day, but (with one exception) they all arrived pretty much right at sunrise–too late for the good stuff.

The progression of light this morning…

Here, about an hour before sunrise, the camera sees a bit of pre-dawn light seeping out from between the semi-overcast (barely visible to the naked eye). The city lights are somewhat interesting, but the sky is boring:

Port at Dawn, #1 (from Montjuic). Barcelona, 2019

In this view centered on the container receiving area, the sky has lightened considerably. Here, you have a nice sky while the lights throughout the industrial port area are still on–a good time to trip the shutter. Shooting at f/16, although softening the photograph a slight bit due to diffraction, will give you those nice starbursts at each point of light:

Port at Dawn, #6 (from Montjuic). Barcelona, 2019

Just out of port, ships await their turn to enter–and one small boat zips past. If you have a big enough screen and sharp eyeballs, you can just barely see three distant seagulls scattered among the bands of color in the sky:

Port at Dawn, #11 (from Montjuic). Barcelona, 2019

This was maybe 20-30 minutes prior to official sunrise and it was probably the best light of the morning. The Grimaldi ferry is just closing it’s rear doors, having loaded up with a number of cargo trucks:

Port at Dawn, #10 (from Montjuic). Barcelona, 2019

At, and just after, sunrise, the light on this day goes blue-gray and flat, and it ends up staying that way most of the morning. That’s why a photographer can’t just show up right at sunrise with tickets for the show–nature has it’s own schedule, so be early! In this image, though, I do like how the row of multi-million dollar yachts can be seen–talk about conspicuous consumption! The brownish-beige monster, partially hidden and with the multiple round domes, is the Dilbar, the largest yacht in the world by tonnage, it measures about 512 feet long and cost the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov somewhere around $600 million to build (crew of up to 80 with a capacity of 40 guests, two heliports, 25m pool, etc., etc.). I have seen it anchored in Barcelona’s port several times, but they have yet to invite me on board!

Port at Dawn, #12 (from Montjuic). Barcelona, 2019