5:20am Saturday morning, the alarm goes off briefly as my hand moves instinctively to hit the snooze button before the alarm raises the entire house (which would have a detrimental effect on my landscape photography ambitions).

The forecast was for a clear frosty morning. I had planned a trip to the Phoenix Park in Dublin to catch the morning light on the last of the brilliant autumnal colors that have been on display in the deciduous forests within the park. Apparently the good summer we experienced this year has contributed to the much stronger autumnal colours.

Clouds had lingered to keep temperatures above freezing so not quite the conditions that I was expecting, however, the diffused light from the thin layer of cloud was adequate.