It was a usual Sunday. Mostly. I was awake looking at the sky and the TPE app at 5.00am but it wasn’t looking good either way for a sunrise shot. It did predict some color along the coast for sunset so my day was set. The east coast isn’t quite as dramatic for sunset as it is on the West Coast unless you can get to a spot on the coast where the water faces West, such as it is in Jamestown in Rhode Island where there is an old Lighthouse called Beavertail Light.
As a landscape (or seascape or cityscape) photographer you tend to plan around times where there is a decent chance for dramatic skies and good light. One of the problems with predictions at the coast is the way in which cloud patterns change so quickly. What looks promising at 5.00pm may be quite different at 6.54 which was sunset yesterday. As it turned out, after driving a total of over 3 hours, that was what happened. But it was still a great time.
I had visited Beavertail Light last year and had a spectacular sunset. That was around Labor Day so it was hot and there were many people by the lighthouse and on the rocks which made composing shots much trickier. Yesterday, with the temperatures around freezing, it was much quieter. It’s funny how the cold drives people elsewhere.
Yesterday there were a few people, mainly photographers, but it was much easier to compose. I was moving around the shore looking for good compositions and places where the light would be best when sunset arrived. It is a spectacular place for an array of compositions and I found a few which I’ll post later. However, the clouds in the West disappeared before sunset except behind me which wasn’t much use. Fortunately the light on the waves was looking great so I quickly moved down the shore, set the tripod at a fairly low angle and prepared to get wet.
Here is one of the shots. Then the drive back home with the Hamilton mixtape. I did not throw away my shot!
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