The Seductive Lure Of A Sublime Sunset.

From Vancouver to Vanuatu I have been privileged to have watched that fiery ball, we refer to as the sun sink ever so slowly into the sea or disappear behind a mountain range, leaving in it's wake a sky resplendent with a riot of unimaginable colour.

I often wonder how many photographs of sunsets fill the pages of photograph albums or clog up programs of computers with an event that happens 365 times a year!

Having spent time in countless tourist destinations across the world, I watch with some amusement as, at the end of the day there is a frantic dash to gather up a camera or a smartphone and snap away as the sun begins its slow descent behind the horizon.

It’s almost a rite of passage to shoot the sun before darkness descends.

Trawling through my library of shots from around this wonderful world the other day, I note that, I too fall victim to this lure of the light as the last few minutes of a day leaves us in a blaze of colour.

I did however conduct a small experiment by taking a shot from each location and placing them side-by-side to examine the differences; the results can be quite startling.

From Port Hardy in the north of British Columbia in Canada or Tromso in Norway, to Queenstown in the south of New Zealand, the sun departs in vastly different ways at the tail end of a day.

The vibrant colours, the speed at which it sinks (optical illusion) and the length of time a sunset lasts are different from hemisphere to hemisphere. Of course this is obvious to those who study climate but to a happy snapper it still inspires awe and wonder.

I have spent the last few years in the topics where the curtain comes down promptly at about 6pm. Here the sun begins to take on a different persona, often behaving like a colourful dancer in a Follies Revue. From yellow, to pink and finally to a giant red ball, it sits awhile on the horizon teasing us to take up a camera and photograph it as it cavorts and then hides beneath the sea like a shy guest at a party.

In the bush in Africa or the jungles of Borneo, an eerie quiet descends at twilight and envelops the landscape as birds seek sanctuary high in the trees for the night while, at the same time animals find the safest places to endure the unknowns of the coming darkness. I have watched troops of baboons in Zambia stop their cavorting and promptly sit down and have a damn good think about the day’s events. The leader of the troop will find an elevated position on a hillside and  sit like Rodin’s statue of The Thinker, deep in thought, eyes never wavering from the setting sun.

 Time here , for a few minutes  suddenly pauses.

Sunsets, unlike sunrises are hypnotic; evoking a feeling that something has ended as the sun departs in a blaze of fiery colour signifying that this particular day, good or bad has left us. Sunrises on the other hand promises new beginnings and her colours are vastly different; more alive and “fresh’ with hope and promise.

Sunsets however are events that seem to capture the painter’s imagination and really, why shouldn’t they?

Take a wander around the National Gallery in London which will give you the opportunity to marvel at some of Turner and Constable’s evocative paintings of London in the late 1800’s where explosive sunsets cast hues of colour across the skyline, tinting the Thames in a myriad of violets, reds and blues.

These vibrant sunsets were an unusual phenomenon that lasted for months, much to the joy of those who were around to witness it. The reason the skies turned crimson at the end of the day were caused by massive geological event that happened on the other side of the world, the eruption of Mt Krakatoa, off the west coast of Java. 

The giant ash cloud the volcano spewed out, drifted slowly westwards across Europe and sat suspended above the continent for much of the summer. The fine ash diffused the sun’s light and, as the sun was at an acute angle in late afternoon, created a kaleidoscope of unbelievable colour that had Constable and Turner reaching frantically for their paintbrushes and palettes.

Sunsets seemingly capture everyone’s imagination

After exotic holidays, traveller’s photographs are often proudly displayed in terribly boring slide evenings where fiends are subjected to countless shots of the family enjoying their annual vacation. It is however always the sunset snap that elicits a gasp of oooh's and aaah’s and the words, " My, what a great shot," before slipping back into, “I wish I was somewhere else” mode.

That said, I know of no person who can ignore that giant ball of fire sinking slowly behind the horizon signifying the conclusion of another delightful day.

Ain't, nature wonderful?

Paul v Walters is the best selling author of several novels and when not cocooned in sloth and procrastination in his house in Bali scribbles for several international Travel and Vox Pop Journals. His latest novel, Scimitar was released in September 2016.

Photographs by Paul v Walters