There is only one good thing about having short days in winter: you don’t have to get up early to see the sun rise or stay out late to see it set! Now I see the sun rise every morning when I go to work. It’s a small consolation for the near-eternal nights.

So to make myself feel better about the shortening days (and the fact that the clocks have just changed – probably the most depressing day of the year for me), I’ve been going through the sunrises and sunsets from my most recent holiday to Italy. Gone are the days of having to get up at 5am to catch dawn, and with dusk done with by a measly 6pm, it’s no effort to photograph that either. *Great*.

A storm approaches Piazza del Popolo, Rome, at dawn. The dramatic sky makes it one of my favourite photos from the holiday. In another 20 minutes or so the clouds closed in and treated everyone to torrential rain.

This is the same square – Piazza del Popolo – at dusk, about half an hour after the sun set (the day before I think). I love this time of day because the light from the sky is perfectly balanced with the light from the city, so very little post-processing is needed.

The wall in the background of these two photos is where I took the first photo of Piazza del Popolo. This is a gorgeous spot at the entry of the gardens of Villa Borghese. The building glowing in the background is St Peter’s Basilica (the Vatican).

A street of the district Trastevere, Rome, at dusk. The streets of Trastevere are buzzing with people at this time of day and the restaurants serve up some delicious meals.

The Trevi Fountain just after dawn, when the light began to skim the top of the building. Despite what many people and guide books say, you really CAN have the Trevi Fountain to yourself, even in high summer – just go at 7am :)

The Colosseum at pre-dawn. Having walked for almost 12 hours the day before, I really had to drag myself out of bed to get here, but it was completely worth it. Once again the light from the sky was perfectly balanced with the lights and it was empty!

Positano, the Amalfi Coast, at dusk.

This was taken about 15-20 minutes after the previous photo when the light had noticeably changed. It’s amazing how the light changes by the minute, and I never realised it until I became seriously interested in photography.

And finally, I made a GIF! This is a storm approaching Positano at dusk. There are a few little lightning bolts in some of the shots (though unfortunately they were quite far away). I never intended for these images to become a GIF, I had just stuck my camera on a tripod and shot long exposures continuously in the hope of capturing some lightning bolts. Only when I had them all lined up in Lightroom did the idea pop into my head. I’ve never made one before but I really like result (though I struggled to keep the quality of the images). I am planning to do a lot more…..