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Whilst holidaying in Berlin a little while ago, I had noticed this image several times while traveling past on the train and determined to return and capture it before I left the city. The night before we were due to leave, I realized that I hadn't yet managed to do the job and so decided to get up early and see if, perhaps there might even be a better shot at sunrise.
The first problem I encountered was getting out of bed before dawn on a freezing New Years Day after sitting up into the early hours of the morning trying to capture the excitement of a Berlin New Years Eve. I have never seen so many fireworks go off for so long.
The next problem was finding out when the trains began to run on a Public Holiday and then to work out which station would be nearest to the bridge. I eventually alighted one station too early and had to hike to the spot so that I missed the actual sunrise but, with the positioning of the shot it didn't really matter. I was still in time to capture that beautiful, crisp morning glow.
I had originally thought that I would shoot from the railway bridge from where I'd first noticed the scene, but, on quickly scouting around the area, I decided that a lower angle would most likely produce the best result. Once I got down onto the bank of the river I found that several other images presented themselves and I spent quite some time in the area where many of the smaller creeks and ponds had completely frozen over during the night. But this was the shot I'd come to get and, as it turned out it was the best of the day.
I struggled quite a bit with exposure and attempted to do an exposure bracket but, in the end, I simply did a little dodging and burning to bring out the shadows under the bridge and restore a little of the blown out sky. All in all, I think the lack of sleep and a few frozen fingers were a small price to pay.
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