Chasing The Light

A Day In The Life

Ever wonder what Christian Dalbec does every day to get those spectacular sunrise shots? Well.. let’s take a peak shall we? 😉

Every morning Christian sets his alarm to go off approximately 2 hours before sunrise. This time of year (Octoberish), sunrise is at 7:00am. He has his alarm set for 4:50am. In the summer, when sunrise is much earlier, the alarm gets set to 2:30 or 3am. I have said it before, it takes a really special kind of crazy to do what this man does everyday.

In theory, Christian has his camera and wetsuit (and coffee) prepped and ready to go out the door as soon as he gets up. He wakes up to a lovely blaring alarm sound, kisses his wife (that’s me!!), loads up the pick-up camper, honks the horn twice for his wife (that’s me!! 😉 ) and heads to Split Rock Lighthouse.

Split Rock is the usual sunrise spot for my photographer. You just can’t beat a backdrop with a lighthouse on a cliff. It is spectacular. Split Rock Lighthouse is a about a 40 mile drive, round trip. So it takes him approximately 25 minutes one way.

** Side note about the drive. If you’ve never driven up Hwy 61 you may not realize this is actually a treacherous drive. I am more concerned for my man driving than I am about him swimming. There are too many people driving way too fast on this road. There are many twists and turns and also quite a bit of wildlife (there’s a reason we say to ‘Watch out for deer’). It is a stunningly beautiful drive, extremely scenic but so many people forget to enjoy that. The number of deaths that have happened on that road would shake even city rush hour commuters. It’s heartbreaking. So if you do make this trek – slow down, chill, enjoy the ride. If you move too fast, life will pass you by. – Ok, I’ll step down from the soap-box. Carry-on.

When the photographer makes it to the parking lot he has to run down to the lake, check water temp and cloud cover. He then makes the call – to swim or not to swim? That is the question.

If swimming, he dons his wet-suit (and while he does have his speed down to an art, this is no easy-peasy task) grabs the camera gear and runs!

Christian typically wears one of his semi-dry suits. These are more suited for the frigid waters of our lovely lake. Water temp has been changing lately. Some days he says it’s 38°, two days later it’s 47°. The last few days it’s been 52° so whatever. We Minnesotans have learned to pack for every weather possibility – right? 😉

He does wear fins (this is a safety factor). You need to be able to swim efficiently and have some traction in the waves. The part many are confused to hear, is the weight belt. Christian wears about 22lbs of added weight. So here is a little physics lesson: wet-suits/ semi-dry suits etc, create a higher buoyancy factor for a floating human. This means he weighs less in the water than usual. Christian adds the weights so that he is “neutral buoyant” meaning he floats in the water at about eye-level and can position his cameras around to easily get those ‘over-under’ shots we all know and love.

After the photographer has finished “button-clicking” he trudges back to the pick-up camper and starts the coffee-making and wet-suit doffing process. We are somewhat coffee-snobs, in case you didn’t know that about us. So Christian uses a hand-grinder for freshly ground beans and a ceramic pour-over for his daily coffee. (He also adds about 1/4 cup of sugar that his wife isn’t too crazy about but we’ll just glide past that one………….) All-in-all quite a lovely way to spend sunrise.

The photographer then sends a text to let me know he is safe and on the way home. (You don’t want to know how many times he has forgotten and just shows up at the house to a crazy-nervous-wreck of a wife (that’s me!!) waiting for him.)

Before he sets to editing, Christian’s (now relaxed and happy) wife attempts to make him breakfast. (He really does not like to eat in the morning). He usually blasts some good ol’ school heavy metal and locks himself in his office anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours. He emerges (hours later) with a phone full of eye-candy. I am the lucky little lady who gets to see all the goodies.

You guys, you think what he posts is life-changingly spectacular? You don’t even know the half of it. There are days when I just can’t take it anymore. The beauty is insane. And there are only so many hundreds of times I can say the the phrases, “WoW!!! That’s unbelievable!!” or “Ok, new favorite.” I mean it every time I say it, but seriously! I need new words to describe this stuff! (feel free to invent, create or research new words for me and email them to karadalbec@gmail.com – I would LOVE to write a post of new descriptive words)

Christian then – somehow – decides what to post and share with the world. The whole time saying how he “got nothing this morning” and “I bet no one will like it.” (see previous blog post) Good grief, man! The world is a better place for being exposed to this beauty. Thank you, Christian. You are a gift to us all.

So there you have it! Christian Dalbec Sunrise 101. Hope you enjoyed a little peak behind-the-scenes. As you head out the door today, please remember to watch out for deer! 😉

P.S. Exciting workshop details coming soon – make sure to keep an eye on Facebook and Instagram (or subscribe here) to get the latest info!