chasing dawn and dusk with bruce getty

Renowned for his breathtaking sunrise and sunset shots across Instagram, Bruce Getty of @gettyphotography took some time to talk to us about how he spends his time behind the camera lens.

His dramatic cityscapes and long exposure experiments with light have attracted over 127 thousand instagram followers, and he now conducts training workshops for those aspiring to learn more about his techniques.

In order to capture the passage of sweeping clouds over time, and the piercing city lights at dusk, Bruce's lifestyle orientates around his photography, waking in the early hours to check weather patterns and set up for shoots.

Tell us a bit about how you got to where you are now? 

Photography started as a hobby for me. It was something I enjoyed doing in my free time. I lived on Treasure Island and explored different spots of the Bay Area. I like to hike and I like to explore I like to go places I am not supposed to go, to get a different perspective on things and better composition.

How has instagram impacted what you do? 

Instagram put me in connection with an entire community of people that I have things in common with and I have met a lot of great people. It inspires me to get out there, to travel and see different things.

What was the motivation behind setting up your workshops?

An alternative income. I'm self-employed just trying to find different ways to make money, so I don't have to do hard labor. As more and more people started asking for my advice I realized I could actually teach people and they would pay me for it. So I am doing something I enjoy while making money.

 

Capturing long exposure sunrises must require a few early mornings! How would you describe a typical day? 

I usually wake up in the middle of the night around two in the morning and check the weather conditions. I can either look it up online or go outside. If the weather looks interesting I will wake up at three in the morning and go shoot. Then I will stop and eat breakfast and go to work. It's more of a lifestyle, I am always watching the weather patterns and I plan my shooting around weather conditions in my local area.

A lot of your work focuses on urban environments… vast cityscapes, bridges etc. Do you favour these locations over the more rural locations that you also photograph? 

I favor locations I have near me. I may visit the same places often but it's always a different picture because the sky is always different and the weather always changes. If I had money I would travel everywhere and have more variety.

If you could chose one city that you’d never tire of returning to, what would it be and why? 

New York City I would say because there's so much more to shoot. More waterfronts and more bridges, and the season changes are beautiful there.

What inspires you about capturing photographs at dawn and dusk? 

The way the color changes, and how the light changes. I enjoy chasing light.

How important is downtime to you, and how do you choose to unwind? 

 I like to watch movies, at home or at the theater.

If you had an extra hour in your day, how would you spend it? 

I would spend the extra hour editing pictures.

You can check out more of Bruce's work on instagram and on his site here. To give this article a share, simply use this ready-to-go tweet.