Saving Blue Hour

The Cathedral, moments before sunrise (Fujifilm X-T4: f/5.6, 1/15 sec, ISO 160, 14mm). This rock formation happened over millions of years, as ice and water chiselled away to expose layers of granite.

Sprinting up the winding Cathedral-Hump trail, I thought that my lungs were going to explode and my legs were going to fall off… I just wasn’t sure which would happen first! It felt like I had been navigating the steep, twisting path of exposed granite rocks and boulders for an eternity (in reality, it was maybe closer to 5 minutes). The climb was made a little more tricky as the trail was quite wet from the early morning frost and melting snow (yep, our Australian summer was 2 weeks away and the mountain was scattered with snow!) But I knew I couldn’t afford to rest as I had about 15 minutes left before the first rays of sunrise would be hitting the face of The Cathedral, an iconic granite rock formation at Mt Buffalo, Victoria. That was not the shot that I had planned for my first time shooting this ancient icon.

I had only pictured capturing The Cathedral cast in the soft light peeping through somewhere at the end of blue hour and the start of golden hour. In my mind, the light that came with sunrise would be harsher than what I wanted and not strike the right mood I was looking for. Based on PhotoPills, I knew I had about a 10 minute window to achieve the shot. But despite my planning and excitement, I somehow ended up running late that morning and had underestimated how long the drive - in pitch black darkness from my accommodation and through the narrow, winding road up Mt Buffalo to the start of the trail - would take me. Now, I was paying for it with a punishing sprint and potentially missing my shot completely.

With only minutes left before sunrise, I managed to arrive at a flat rocky outcrop which provided a clear view straight up to The Cathedral. I’ve made it, I thought. This must be the base of “the Hump” vantage point that I’ve read about…but that shot was looking down onto The Cathedral, and here I am looking up. Nonetheless, I dropped down my backpack and hurriedly started setting up my tripod, quickly realising that the rocky outcrop I was on was more like a narrow sloping cliff overlooking the valley below, and there wasn’t much room for error! A trip over one of my tripod legs or a strong gust of wind and I was probably going to be a bit of a mess somewhere below. Luckily for me though, it was an incredibly still morning, and there was not a whisper of wind despite my high and exposed location. The air was chilly, but the sky was clear and lit by beautiful hues of purple, orange and red. With no time to set up my composition, I started snapping away. I knew that regardless of how the shots turned out, this was such a beautiful view on a beautiful morning, and definitely worth almost busting a lung for.

Meanwhile, my husband Cris had hiked ahead and I later learnt from him that I wasn’t at the base of the Hump - the trail meandered further and higher up to a large rocky plateau with a much closer view down onto The Cathedral and which offered more compositional options. Oh darn it. By that time, The Cathedral was basked in the early sunrise light. Still, it was worth having a look and taking a shot.

I spent the rest of the morning hiking further to the Hump which, if you carefully climb the right boulders, you can get some amazing views of Cresta Valley.

I'll definitely be back next time, better prepared and with ample time up my sleeve to properly explore different compositions.

The Cathedral-Hump trail, lined with snow in mid-November in Australia!

The Cathedral, basked in the early sunrise light and viewed from the Hump (Fujifilm X-T4: f/11, 1/60 sec, ISO 160, 15mm).