“There is nothing is more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in all that book which, alas, musicians read but too little – the book of Nature.”
-Claude Debussy
An interesting phenomenon with humans is our attraction to the daily appearance and disappearance of the sun. We gather to commemorate special occasions at sunrise, and find the best vantage points to view the sunset.
Maybe it is the pure and fleeting natural beauty we see in the sky. Perhaps the excellent natural lighting illuminates our loved ones in such a flattering way we subconsciously associate these moments with overwhelming positivity. Whatever it is, I fully embrace the magnetism of the setting sun, and had the opportunity to experience a special one on a recent trip to Southern California.
Sunset Cliffs Natural park is a beautiful stretch of coastline in San Diego that features varied terrain and great views of the Pacific Ocean. As you can also probably guess by the name, it is known for its sunsets.
Our visit to this area was both planned and spontaneous. Initially, our visit to the park was supposed to be one of the last things we did in San Diego. However, as we drove down from Los Angeles, the weather reports for the following days kept getting more and more dire. They were forecasting intense winds and a historic amount of rain, and while having a few clouds makes a sunset more beautiful, a thunderstorm does not.
A challenge when trying to photograph sunsets is capturing not just the image, but anything approximating the feeling that being there in person can provide. But in reality, that is as it should be – we are able to remember and share an approximation of nature’s beauty, but much like live musical performance, you just have to be there.
So the timing was serendipitous and the view was extraordinary. Normally, I try to follow the sunset as far over the horizon as possible but the views are somewhat obstructed. Here, the ocean reached on for infinity and itself disappeared over the horizon.
The name of the Pacific Ocean comes from its, at least relative, peacefulness. And while the water was starting to churn with the energy of the coming storm, the feeling of experience one of the purest natural beauties provided some of that peace anyway.
So whatever it is that draws us to the natural cyclical changes of the sun, I gladly fall prey to it. In an ever complicated world, sometimes just watching the star that makes life possible fall into the ocean can, at least for a moment, provide some peace.