Just what I needed…

A spectacular show of light and color at Sunset Cliffs, Point Loma, California on 9.11.09.

I'm not one to shoot many ocean sunsets. When I was photo editing for our travel section, they became an inside joke: everyone with a camera shoots sunsets. A dime a dozen, after a while, you just stop noticing them. When editing for a story, I'd skim right past them looking for something "better" that would surprise me.

I haven't been a full time photo editor for more than three years now. So I'm thinking, maybe I've had time to become "normal" again and develop a more healthy appreciation for sunset photos because I was certainly drawn to it last night.

I wasn't on a photo hunt. My hunger was what was driving me. I hadn't been to the groceries in a while and I was out of fresh food desperately craving a strawberry and spinach salad. The store I've been haunting lately is in Point Loma, a 15 minute freeway drive from where I live. But Friday evening, as hungry as I was, I nonetheless wound up taking a meandering street route and as I got closer to Point Loma, I realized the sky was turning an incredible orange. A quick glance to my dashboard clock told me it was nearly 7pm. Without making a conscious decision, I found myself turning onto Point Loma Avenue and heading towards the ocean.

Cresting the hill presented a view of the water and the ever increasing kaleidoscope of gorgeous color in the sky and I knew where I wanted to go. The tiny parking areas by Sunset Cliffs were filled with cars. I found street parking and walked across to the cliffs. I grabbed my cell phone and took a shot to immediately upload to my Facebook page to share with friends. My En-V didn't do the sunset justice. Then I remembered that I still had my snappy in my messenger bag. I hurriedly retrieved it and was able to knock off a few more shots before the light disappeared.

So much has happened in my life the last several months. This week included a trip to the ER (thought I was having a heart attack but turned out the events of this year are stressing me out more than I thought) followed by a stressful return to work trying make up for lost time due to my sick day following my trip to the ER (doctor's orders to take a break and slow down – like that's gonna happen!).

Standing on the cliffs with all the other sunset worshippers reminded me of why we photograph sunsets in the first place: it forced me to slow down, breathe and appreciate life on a grander scale.

And it was just what I needed.