I like taking photos of sunsets. A bit cliched, you suggest? Yes, probably. But I like taking photos of sunsets anyhow.
By the time I went up onto the roof yesterday, the sun had already set and what I was left with was the after-sunset sky… 
…which was rather beautiful…
I really do love taking photos of sunsets. Did I say that already?
Sunset…Sunday evening…day’s end. We know that days end, that weekends end, that lives end. Sunset…Sunday evening…day’s end.
The traveler’s palm, the water oak, the Number Eleven mango tree all line up against the goodnight sky.
Nature has its way of doing this, distracting you with its beauty. Sitting at Gloria’s Seafood restaurant at Victoria Pier on Kingston Harbour a few weeks ago, I wasn’t thinking much about how long it was taking for the food to arrive, the seriously polluted state of the harbour or the current events and governance issues that had been my day’s focus. I was captivated by clouds above the horizon…
…trees silhouetted against the sky…
…and the setting sun….
Even the buildings looked better at that time of day…
I normally take photos of this coconut tree at sunrise. I must have taken hundreds of photos of it over the years…against spectacular red skies or pink clouds…or lit by sunlight as the sun comes over the mountains…or in silhouette…sheltering doves or baldpates or on one occasion a very steely-eyed johncrow. But today I photographed the coconut tree, not as the sun was rising, but as it was setting…
This meant that I was standing on my roof with my back to the setting sun…
…seeing coconuts at various stages of development…
…some very small ones, just starting out….
And all the while, behind me, the sun continued to set…
Yesterday evening I went up on the roof to watch the sun go down, something I often do. By the time I got there, the sun had already set, but the sky remembered!
Every sunset is different. Even the same sunset sky goes through many moods, vibrant shades of orange giving way to subtle shades of pink.
Eventually all sign of the sun is gone, leaving the night to electric lights and Venus…
“For this week’s photo challenge, explore the vibrant, hopeful colors of your favorite sunrise or sunset….Get creative and show us the sun in all of her fiery glory.”
Sunrise over the mountains…from my rooftop, Jamaica…
Sunset over the sea….Kingston Harbour, Jamaica…
