A still blue-hour morning at Rhodes, where city lights, bridge reflections, and soft cloud textures merge into a calm, layered sunrise scene.

A quiet winter blue hour sunrise at Yasaka Pagoda in Kyoto, where crimson blue tones fill the sky and the historic streets glow softly beneath the early morning light.

There’s something deeply rewarding about waking up before dawn, especially as a landscape photographer. On this particular morning, I headed out from Blackheath before first light, hoping to capture the sunrise over Govett’s Leap, one of the most iconic lookouts in the Blue Mountains. It had rained overnight, and the air was thick with fog as I made my way through the sleepy town. There’s a stillness at this hour that makes every step feel like a quiet prelude to something extraordinary — a feeling landscape photographers know all too well.

Venice wakes slowly.

 That morning in October, I set my alarm for 4:30 AM, determined to catch the first golden glow of sunrise across the Grand Canal. Venice, known for its bustling piazzas and waterways brimming with gondolas, was still deep in slumber as I stepped out of my accommodation and began weaving through shadowy alleyways and over countless small bridges.