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Wilpena Pound, situated in the Ikara-Flinders Park, South Australia, a natural amphitheatre that’s over 5km’s wide. I had set out on the dark at around 5:30am as I wanted to be sure I had enough time to do the hike and find a vantage point before sunrise and as it was winter I didn’t expect to encounter anyone en route. This proved to be the case and I got to the lookout platforms and had the whole view entirely to myself.

As I had kept a brisk pace I had the luxury of going to 3 different spots before I made my decision and spread the legs of my tripod in the predawn light. I wasn’t exactly sure where the sun was going to be and how it would unfold as it was my first visit to the area and we had only arrived in the late afteroon the previous day so I wasn’t completely orientated.

I heard the scenic aerial trip aeroplane revving up as it took off and a few minutes later I saw the first red rays creep over the hills and light up the opposite end of “The Pound”. The low clouds and mist that were present reacted to the warmth of the morning light and moved around as if trying to avoid the suns beams on them. I adjusted to what was unfolding in front of me and started shooting the vast expanse. Above me I heard the plane circling but apart from that there was no other activity. I half expected people to start arriving but it was all pretty quiet. I was quite happy about that as I had set up on a wooden deck and the vibrations of people walking on it would have caused complications for my long exposures. As the light got harder and lost it’s first light quality I called it a morning and started back for camp and some coffee.