First hour of light
The light at Praia lasted eleven minutes. I wasted four on a lens cap.
Essay
Mar 14, 2026
5 min
Praia da Adraga, Portugal
I book most sessions for the hour after sunrise. Clients think it is about the colour. It is really about the quiet. The streets are empty, nobody is performing yet, and the light does half the directing for me.
Eleven minutes
At Praia last spring the good light lasted eleven minutes. I spent four of them looking for a lens cap I was still holding. The seven that were left gave me the only frame from that morning I still look at.
So now I arrive early, set up in the dark, and wait. The first hour is short. It rewards people who are already standing in the right place.
Arriving in the dark
I leave the flat at five, before the trams. The bag is packed the night before so there is nothing to decide in the dark. On location I walk the space once without a camera and find the two or three places the light will reach first.
Clients arrive half asleep, which is perfect. Nobody has the energy to perform. They hold coffee, they talk quietly, and they forget that this was supposed to be a photo shoot.
Reading the sky
Overcast mornings are the gift nobody asks for. The sky becomes a softbox the size of the coast, faces stay even, and the sea goes silver instead of blue.
The first hour is short. It rewards people who are already standing in the right place.
Leica M10 Monochrom
Praia da Adraga, Portugal
