Sunsets are, together with sunrises one of the most popular topics to photograph. The point is that you only have the chance to photograph a sunset once a day. And not even every day, because you won't be able to photograph one on an overcast day.
And even when there is sun and you have your camera ready, you need to be lucky that it is a nice one, because no sunset is the same.

I've been photographing for over 20 years now and have built up quite a large archive of photographs over these years. The HiveBR photocontest triggered me to search for sunsets in my archive. And it turns out I have a very large number of them. One of the nice things about these kinds of photography contests is that it triggers me to browse my old photos and that brings back nice memories as well.
I want to refer to a quote of fashion designer and fanatic photographer Carl Lagergfeld:

What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that's gone forever, impossible to reproduce.

And that quote really nails it. The best time to photograph sunsets is during the golden hour and blue hour. The first is refers to the period shortly just before sunset. The sunlight is softer, warmer, and creates a golden glow.
The latter occurs after sunset, when the sky takes on a deep blue hue.

It was quite difficult to choose my most beautiful sunset. I have a lot of beautiful ones and some of them are really valueable to me because of the memories that are captured within them. But I'll add more than one sunset to this post and tell you something about them.

A typical Dutch landscape

This is my entry for the contest; a typical Dutch landscape of a windmil during sunset. In summer I often go for a bicycle ride in the polder in the evenings. It's nice to ride along the canals. The views over the water and the meadows with cows and sheep is very nice and calming. On the route are quite a few old windmills. They aren't being used to pump water or grinding grain to make flour, but they are maintained as cultural heritage.
I really liked the reflection of the sun, the windmill and the sky in the water.

Sunset at the beach

I live about a 20 minutes drive by car from the beach, but despite the short distance I don't even go there that much. Especially not during sunset, and that's a shame. Just look at the beautiful combination of the burning sun and clouds. It's really peaceful to see the sun slowly disappear behind the horizon.

I also have another shot of a sunset at the same beach. This time I visited the beach with my daughter and took some shots while she was doing some tricks in the sand.

Cycling in the mountains

The following shot was made during a holiday in France. I brought my road bicycle and was going for an evening ride in the mountains. It took me a bit longer than expected and I saw the sun slowly disappear behind the mountains. I really had to get back to the campsite before it got dark, so I rushed my way back. But when I came around the corner I had this view and I just had to stop and take this shot.

A walk in the neighbourhood

Apart from cycling I also often make a walk in the neighbourhood. One day I witnessed this beautiful sunset when I crossed a bridge, so I took this shot. Funny enough other people also stopped and took photographs. I even made a photo of two friends with this sunset as a background.

And this shot is taken a few moment later. You can clearly see that the golden hour is turning into the blue hour. And after that it gets really dark.

Holidays

I have quite a few sunsets that I have made during my holidays over the years. It's not that strange since you are out of your normal busy schedule and have all the time to wait for a sunset. I'll share you some examples below.
This first one is from a beautiful trip my wife and I made long ago to Africa. This photo is taken during a boat trip on the Okavango river in Botswana. This one hold precious memories.

The following photo is an even older one. It's from a trip I made with some friends along the French coast. This is somewhere in Normandy. The beaches are so wide there and the light that evening was so beautiful. The beach was still wet because it had just turned low tide. This caused the sand to reflect the colours of the sky. I just had a cheap compact camera back then (I just checked it and this photo is from 2004!), but this is one of the shots that triggered my interest for photography.

I hope you enjoyed my photos!

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FriendlyMoose

Creating blogs about photography, cycling, gardening, craft beer and more...

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