One of the most fundamental things about photography, especially when landscape shots are concerned, is how you use light. The right conditions can make a good photo great, a great one — amazing. Hence why I’m never too shy about getting up super early to catch those first magical rays 😉

This past weekend we were staying in an old hut (now turned into a “secret hotel”) above Bansko in the Pirin mountains to celebrate my friend Metodi’s birthday. It rained the previous night, which usually means the following morning will be clear and perfect for photos. Despite going to bed at past 2am, I got up and was rewarded with this view over the town around 6am…

 
The sun was just about to peak over the horizon and the light was incredible.

 
And there it was!

 
By 6.20am the sun had filled the valley with light, which reminded me of another early rising of mine from last fall. It was serene and beautiful.

 
Pretty much any photo you take with this light will be worth it 🙂 So I hung around and just shot away.

 
Ski runs in summer time.

 
My partner in crime 😉

 
Caught in a moment.

 
Love the contrast of this image.

 
It was quite a cloudy day actually, but the sun managed to find its way through the clouds every once in a while. It was as if the sky had opened up just to let these beams through 😉

 
And a close up of the sun rays hitting the ground.

 
Leisurely making our way back to Sofia, we stopped by the tiny village of Stob not even a 100km away from Bansko and took a walk above it.

 
Some cool views from higher up.

 
And this is what we came to see, the Stob pyramids — interesting natural rock formations.

 
Near sundown things had gotten even more exciting from a lighting perspective. The dark clouds in the background served as a nice contrast to the rock that was directly hit by the sun rays.

 
We didn’t make it to the top of the hill this time, but we said we’d come back to watch the sunset over the valley sooner rather than later 😉

 
Still, not a bad way to end this day!

So my advice to you — always jump at the opportunity to chase those perfect lighting conditions, it’s worth it every time 😉