It's funny how Mother Nature does her own thing and doesn't wait for us. She moves along at her own pace and if we want to capture a photograph of something spectacular, then we'd better be prepared to stop and take the time to get it when she's ready.
A good example is sunsets. Sunsets happen every single day, but how often do we take the time to notice them? We rush along at the end of the day, hurrying home from a hard day at work, and barely notice the show we're being given.
But sometimes...well, sometimes Mother Nature grabs our attention with a sunset so amazing we simply HAVE to stop and look. For me that may mean stopping what I'm doing when I notice the sky changing color, getting my camera, and heading outdoors.
Sometimes it happens when I'm driving...which means I have to find a good spot to stop and get the shots I want. This is what happened late one Friday afternoon a couple of weeks ago on my way to Georgia.
As I was speeding from Gainesville, FL along Highway 441, (immortalized in Tom Petty's song, American Girl {Petty is from Gainesville, FL} She could hear the cars roll by~Out on 441~Like waves crashin on the beach) I was struck by the vivid color of the sky as the sun sunk lower onto the horizon. I knew I had to get some photos.
Highway 441 is a four lane divided highway at the point where I was traveling. There was lots of traffic and lots of trees. I realized to get any decent shots, what I needed was a clear horizon.
So I sped along, through the little towns of Alachua and High Springs, toward where the road narrows back into a two lane and a spot where I knew there would be an open field.
By the time I got to a spot, pulled over and was ready to shoot photos, the sun was already almost hidden behind the oaks and pines at the edge of the field. I quickly set my camera on the "sunset" setting and started shooting.
Cars and trucks whizzed by me on the highway at 60 mph: a few honked horns, and most probably thought I was nuts. I was safely off the highway onto a broad, grassy shoulder, but I suppose most people wondered what I was doing...after all, it was just another sunset.
Dusk was settling fast, and the photos I was taking at that point were becoming too dark to be any good, so I switched my camera setting to the "Dusk/Dawn" option. Here's what they look like with that setting:
The changes in lighting and colors as the sun continued it drop below the horizon was breathtaking...
I kept shooting and thought to myself, as has happened so often in the past, how glad I took the time to stop.
I'll being willing to bet without a doubt, I got the best show of the evening on this particular day ;-)
Rose S. Williams
Southernstoryteller~2011
*I did NO alteration in the coloring on these photos, I only changed the settings on my camera to get the best possible shots. Everything here is as I saw it that day ...isn't Mother Nature grand?
Taken with a Nikon CoolPix P80
