On Saturday, I remember feeling as if weeks had passed since I last went out to take a landscape image. When I looked back at my archive, the real answer was that only 6 days had passed. That being said, my last sunset was 12 days ago…okay, maybe I need help.
With that feeling of a need to go out again, I looked out my bedroom window at 7pm and noted some nice clouds and light forming. I ‘convinced’ the kids to watch just a bit of TV til I got home and got a knowing nod from my wife to go shoot. With that I was off and made a beeline for Parker Avenue. I set up and shot some great dramatic skies and then ran back to the car in a race against the light en route to Chandler Hovey Park.
When I arrived at Chandler Hovey, I saw this great red glow coming up from the horizon where the sun had just set. I ran toward it (and past the lighthouse) to get a few shots of boats in the harbor. I quickly realized that wasn’t the shot I wanted and ran back to the edge of the parking lot in the hopes of including the lighthouse in the image. I started off with a portrait oriented image and then realized there was a better composition to be had. I switched to landscape orientation and moved over so that the sun’s brilliant glow would seem to come from the base of the lighthouse.
This image came from the peak of the fading light of sunset. One of my favorite aspects was including the few onlookers who had come to Chandler Hovey with the hope of watching a beautiful sunset. That human element seemed to add an extra dimension to the image apart from the lush grass, beautiful windswept tree, strong lines of our beloved lighthouse and the dramatic sky encompassing it all.