08/07/2025
“We went to the beach last weekend and saw the absolute best kind of sunset. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky to block the sun!”
We overheard this conversation at Starbucks a little while back and it made us laugh. Invariably, we quote some version of this every time we are faced with a boring clear-sky sunset on the horizon. “Oh yay! It’s gonna be the absolute best kind of sunset. There’s not a single cloud to block the sun!”🤦🏻♂️
Why is this funny? Because, as a landscape photographer there are few things that frustrate me more than a clear, cloudless, flat sky. Of course, after the sun goes down it’s a very different story. A cloudless sky is my friend when the stars are out. But when it comes to sunrises and sunsets, please, oh please, give me some good clouds to reflect light and color!
Anyway, we were teaching a workshop a few weeks ago and the sunset was shaping up to be kind of a dud. There were no high clouds to catch any color and there was a thick marine layer threatening to swallow up the last light as soon as the sun dipped over the horizon. So, we went in search of other scenes to capture our interest. We wandered among the throngs of beach walkers and peeked into the tide pools. We peered up at the nesting puffins – all safely out of sight in their nests. Then we climbed the stairs and shot back towards Haystack Rock attempting to frame the scene with trees, fences, and, eventually, stair railings! Boom! Suddenly we had something more interesting than an empty sky with a too-bright sun!
I kind of like this frame with the sunburst, the leading lines of the shadows and rails, and the basalt monolith anchoring the scene! Who needs clouds?!
The first frame makes it look like we had the place to ourselves. I left the people in the second two... 😂
