October 1, 2010

• PhotoPost: Pink Sunset

   

  Sometimes the right amount of high clouds and other particulate matter are in the sky when the sun sets, refracting light so as to creat the most beautiful "pink sunsets". The last time I photographed one was in 2005, right outside my apartment. Usually, in Southern California anyway, the clouds are wispy cirrus types when this happens. It happened on Wednesday evening, and I was there to record it.

   

   

  

  I took my walk after returning home from work, as usual at around 5pm. Just a couple of days earlier, L.A. recorded the hottest day ever since recordings were begun, in 1877. The temperature was 113 degrees F. when the thermometer broke in the heat! On Tuesday and Wednesday, there was a higher amount of humidity than usual here, and we got our first fall cloudscapes. Most of the time, the skies are clear above the southland, and I'm always on the lookout for clouds.

   

   

  

  I cut my walk short when I noticed the pinkish sky, grabbed my camera, put the top down on the convertible, and began driving the 8 miles to the coast. The ocean is closer on the south end of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, but the sun sets in the west, and the Hollywood Riviera area of Torrance Beach is where I aimed my car, snapping photos of the sky at every opportunity. Traffic is pretty dense during "drive time" on PCH and all the major thoroughfares, so I was afraid I might miss getting to the beach until after the sun had already set. Above, I'm in the left turn lane, about to switch from Lomita Blvd. to Hawthorne Blvd.

   

   

  

  Right as the sun was about to sink under the horizon, the sky became golden, and I was still maneuvering through the Riviera. In the photo above, the ocean is only a couple of blocks away, and I was praying there would be a clear parking space.

   

   

  

  I'm at the end of the line on Ave. I and about to make my right turn onto the Esplanade, which runs right along the beach. Hooray. I pulled into a red zone to get this photo from my car. I frequently call the sunset "God's Movie" and even have a MikeVideo of that name, documenting a sunset on Nantucket Island in 1999. Although the "plot" is always the same, and the "movie" ends the same, the script of the sunset changes each evening, and these "pink sunsets" are all the more beautiful and awe inspiring.

   

   

  

  As I got out of my car, camera in hand, I wasn't the only photographer jockeying for position along the waterfront. As I looked over these photos (in a slideshow on my 60" HDTV) after returning home, I was so satisfied with the sunset itself that I wasn't too disappointed I wasn't shooting from an even more topographically interesting vantage point.

   

   

  

  The sun sinks below the horizon. It's amazing to think I don't witness more sunsets living so close, but as I mentioned, there is a lot of traffic all year long this time of day, and after driving the 15 miles home from work I don't want to immediately get back in traffic, except on rare occasions, like this one!

   

   

  

  I'm presenting these photos in chronological order, so you are witnessing the sunset along with me. Here are more of the clouds to the left, as the disc of the sun disappears.

   

   

  

  Words can't really describe the feeling one gets when he's able to witness nature's beauty in this way, so I won't even try.

   

   

  

   The view to the north, looking up the coast toward Santa Monica and Malibu.

  

  I didn't have too many vantage points to get "interesting angles" and basically wanted to record the sunset itself. I did walk down the beach access path half way down to get this shot, aiming the other way, south toward the peninsula. The pink reflection of the sun is really beaming on these larger clouds.

   

  

  As the sun disappeared, and "God's Movie" began to end, people along Esplanade and down on the beach began to applaud.

   

  

   A similar shot as the one before showing the southern view but including more of the sand and the volleyball nets.

  

   The sun is almost under the horizon line now, and the pink sky is glorious.

  

  Along the beach access path, I held the camera down close to the ground, and shot "through" some iceplant groundcover to get some sort of foliage in a photo. This one came out nicely. By the way, these photos came right out of the camera this way, and I did no post production photo editing on the computer. I did use a sunset filter on some shots and used both wide angle and the standard lens. Also experimented with different settings on the camera, to insure I was getting the best shots, which of course are the ones I'm presenting here on the blog.

   

  

   Mr. sun is gone now, brightening the day for others, as my day begins to end.

  

   I never pass up the opportunity to shoot through a fence.

  

   Farther back, for a different effect. I like the fence better in the photo above, and the sunset in this photo, so I'm posting 'em both.

  

  Down at the bottom of the access ramp. There is contrast between the pilings, the sand, and the shore. I could tweak this a bit to give even more contrast, but this is presented without any editing.

   

  

  Before pulling away from the curb, I decided to get one last shot of the sunset from my car across the street. Some people were passing, and though I usually don't want people in my nature shots, I deliberately waited for the guy on the bicycle to get right where he is when I snapped this photo, silhouetting the people walking and riding along the Esplanade. Hope you enjoyed watching the "pink sunset" along with me.  

   

  Baldmike's Webshots Photo Gallery

  The "Pink Sunset" folder with 112 photos and a video pan of the whole sunset

  • 8:31 am
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