SUNRISE DOWN LANGLAND BEACH

As winter was fast approaching, I took it upon myself to grab my nifty Camera and Tripod and then made my way down to a local beach at 6am in the morning to capture a sunrise over Langland Beach. Setting up my camera to look towards the other side of Swansea, I saw a faint glimpse of the sun coming up, I started recording and a decent looking time lapse video was made. Here is what I got up to...

Setting Up The Shot

As soon as I arrived on the coastal path at Langland Beach, I walked around the cliffs until I got to a vantage point (pictured above) which the sun will rise. I propped up the tripod in position and manually focused the camera towards the edge of the horizon to the left-hand side. This was to make sure that the camera doesn't go in and out of focus whilst being left running for roughly 15/20 minutes. In those 15/20 minutes, I just stood back and took a seat, admiring the sun coming up from the horizon. In all fairness, I haven't properly had a chance to sit down and fully appreciate a sunrise like this in my entire life, but now I can happily say I have and its unlike anything I've ever experienced.

After The Timelapsing

After the time lapse shooting was done, I seized the morning and walked along the beach. I couldn't believe how many people were out in the morning, mainly to walk their dogs. I stopped, took my camera out and snapped some lovely photos whilst soaking in the suns glorious rays...

Final Outcome and Responses

As soon as I got back home all snuggled up in the warm, I fired up After Effects and edited the composition to run a lot faster, essentially making the video clip go faster (time - lapsing), leaving it around 35 seconds long. Looking back at it, you can see that at some points, the camera annoyingly focuses on and off sometimes when the sun’s rays hit the lens. However, what I especially love about what I captured is the motion of the sea below, how it seemingly moves in a wave like pattern, essentially creating a lovely time lapse video which I loved making. All that is missing is a suitable soundtrack to go with it or possibly use this and an array of different sunrise shots into one composition.

Afterwards, I posted the video onto a Facebook page I follow called "I Love Langland" where many people come to share their love, memories and history of Langland Beach. The responses were good, with most commenters quite pleased with what I've done. It's always nice to go out on a creative adventure and see that out of my own enjoyment, other people can enjoy what I see / do.