I’ve got to admit – I’m sat here feeling a little sorry for myself. Checking the forecasts for this weekend suggested that yesterday afternoon was the best chance for sunset and today’s sun rise would be none existant. How wrong they got that!

I don’t usually ever wake up at home when the sun is coming up, but today would have to be the day I did. I looked out the window to clear skies with a few wisps of cloud lit up in a fiery orange and I could see that there was a low mist lying around….I don’t live in the Peaks and in a relatively low area so I knew something special was happening.

Webcams verified the amazing sunrise in the Peak District and so did the endless Facebook updates and a couple of texts from friends rubbing it in. Pictures are starting to emerge too….but you just can’t win them all can you?

Anyway, back to what I originally intended to write about, my sunrise at Birchen Edge on New Years day.

I’ve never done a sunrise on New Years Day before, usually too late a night the night before but this year I didn’t fancy the usual and decided a sunrise would be a good way to bring the year in, so I was up early and set off for a sunrise.

One thing I’ve noticed recently is I’m struggling for locations in the Peak District at sunrise that I feel like shooting. I need to make a plan of locations for the future to go to. I’ve got a few on the list that require big walks in (maybe something for wild camping) but closer ones I’m lacking.

I originally turned up to Curbar Edge, I sat parked there for a while and decided I felt too uninspired to shoot here. It was still fairly dark as I was there in plenty of time so I made a choice to move to Birchen Edge. A tough location for sunrise due to the position of the sun but I felt I could have a bash at it.

On arriving at location at Nelsons Monument I knew I was in for something pretty good, there were passing storm clouds and rain as I waited for the sun to come up and I knew it should make some quite dramatic light.

This first shot was just as the sun was starting to come up, it turned the clouds into a lovely colour and because the rocks were pretty wet they were able to take on some colour and reflect the light which is good because usually I prefer direct light and in turn this means some of the colour in the clouds has usually disappeared.

The monument you can see is called “Nelsons Monument” in honour of Lord Nelson.