Favourite Sunsets From 2017 Part 1

I recently shared a post where I shared some of my Favourite Sunsets From 2014. In this post, I decided to make a little assumption without having fully worked through the following years. I expected that I would have plenty of sunsets from 2015 and 2016, with few from 2017. The result was quite different, I end up combining my Favourite Sunsets From 2015/2016. While I have so many from 2017, that I am going to split them into two posts.

Favourite Sunsets From 2017

In total, I have nine sunsets to share with you from 2017 and have decided to split the post into two parts. The first part which is below will share four sunsets from Cleveland Point during 2017. While the second part which I will share next week will include another five sunsets. These sunsets mostly come from some of my travels throughout 2017.

Cleveland Point Sunsets

It is no surprise that I have a great number of sunsets from the Cleveland Point Area. I have found it a great location to capture the sunset as you can do so over the water. While not what everyone looks for I do like to include the water in sunset photos thanks to the reflections it can provide.

Cleveland Point, 1st April 2017

One feature that I do love to capture at sunset are the sun rays. I have found that it is rather unpredictable whether they will appear on any given day. But sometimes you get rewarded with the rays spreading out over the clouds like in this image.

On this particular day, I had stopped in a slightly different place to where I usually captured the sunset at Cleveland Point. Around half a kilometre before arriving at Cleveland Point, there is a parking area near the Volunteer Marine Rescue. The outlook is almost identical to Cleveland point, just a slightly different angle. I spent around half an hour watching as the sun dropped below the horizon. Over this time the sun rays only appear anything like this for about six minutes.

Cleveland Point, 2nd April 2017

I know this sunset is literally the day after the first one above, but how different two days can be. Even though the two images do not both demonstrate it the sky conditions were somewhat similar. There was a blanket of cloud that covered almost the entire sky on both days. However, on this day there was little to no cloud on the horizon where the sun was setting.

without the cloud on the horizon, there seemed to be no sun rays beaming across the clouds. So I mentioned previously in a post sometimes it can take getting into a different position to capture something interesting. With the tide low, this meant that a lot of the loose rock was exposed and with the reflections on the water this made for an interesting point of view.

Cleveland Point, 25th June 2017

Not all days are about capturing a sunset that has a lot of action in it. Whether that is the sun rays or the reflections. Sometimes it is nice just to capture the serenity of what is the twilight or blue hour.

On this particular day, I remember it was almost perfectly still. If there was a breeze it was so gentle it was barely noticeable. I look back through the photos and there are numerous images with mirror-like water and reflections.

Likewise, this photo also helps me to illustrate something else I like too from time to time. It was almost 10 minutes after the sun had set that I took this image. I think it is quite a nice photo but time and time again I watch photographers leave immediately after the sun has gone. Like the sunset finishes once you cannot see the physical sun anymore. Whereas so many occasions I have captured much better photos anything up to 30 minutes after the sun has disappeared.

Cleveland Point, 8th July 2017

For me, this is I think the most interesting sunset from 2017 that I captured. While it is a beautiful colour across the clouds and a nice reflection. It is that one little cloud that is throwing a shadow onto the main layer of cloud that catches my eye. I am thinking it will probably catch most people’s eye before they read this part.

While I do see occasional other sunset photos posted by people, I saw a number on this specific day. In a regular week, I would be lucky to see one friend post a sunset on Facebook. On this particular day, at least four different friends posted a photo of this small cloud and the shadow it created. All from different spots around the local area.

Chasing The Sun

While I do not get out as often as I would like to chase the sunset, it is one of the more consistent parts of photography I pursue. I hope that you have enjoyed this little selection of sunsets, and look forward to sharing one more post from 2017 with you next week.