Today was good day for photography. I had an idea yesterday evening: to take a photograph of the sunrise with people watching and photographing it—sort of photographing the photographers. I know that in Alcúdia plenty of tourists get up early to see the sunrise, and the forecast for tomorrow looked good. Furthermore, I also know they like to stand on one of the wooden boat jetties, so I had an image in my head: people silhouetted against the rising sun.By 5:30 a.m. I was ready to go and find a location. I had an idea of where to shoot, but wanted time to look around, so by 6:15 I was already on the beach in Alcúdia. I knew exactly where the sun would rise and got myself into a rough position, waiting for the subjects to arrive.

Since I was early, I also took some pre-sunrise shots of another nearby jetty and one of the tourist boats heading out, packed with people hoping to see dolphins. I caught a silhouette of another selfie-shooter too—seems to be the current fashion to take selfies while standing in the sea up to your belly button. Odd, but it makes for a simple, striking photograph.

Sure enough, by 6:45 people started congregating at the end of the main jetty. I began with a few test shots using the Z8 and the 600 mm lens. No tripod needed—I wanted the freedom to frame the shot and move slightly to get the best composition. Since I wanted silhouettes, I knew I could shoot handheld, underexposing by a few stops. Then it was just a waiting game.Right on schedule, the sun appeared, and I watched as people raised their phones to capture it rising over the mountains on the headland. The shot lined up nicely: the jetty, the twin power station towers, the sun, and of course, my sunrise watchers. I fired off a couple of dozen frames before it got too bright. A brief look on the camera screen left me hopeful. As always, I’ll need to see them on the big screen to be certain—but I feel confident.