Remember anticipating Christmas morning as a kid? Falling asleep was a challenge. So was when your parents stopped you from running into the family room to see what Santa brought.
That level of anticipation is what I (and my ocean photographer friends) experience the night before a morning shoot.
It is difficult to sleep.
Questions go through your mind: What will the light be like? Will there be color in the sky? What about the wind? Will the swell show up as forecast? And more.
Noises throughout the house sound louder than you thought possible. Children shutting the bathroom door. Cats running through the hallway. Your wife breathing.
Eventually you fall asleep. And the alarm wakes you at 4:30am (if you haven't awoken earlier). You go into your routine:
- Check the weather apps
- Go to the bathroom
- Get dressed
- Fill up your "rinse off" water jug with warm water
- Pack the car and head out
As you get closer to the beach, you can hardly contain yourself from getting a glimpse of the surf, even though there is little light.
If all goes well, you shoot and head home.
And you anticipate seeing what images you captured on the computer screen.
So much anticipation!
