Today’s sunsets….

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Hello blog readers~
We had a really cool sunset tonight.  I was dancing around with my tripod like crazy.  I’m always trying to catch the tall porcupine grass in the setting sun!  Unfortunately it catches the breeze far too easily and blurs in the photo.  Oh well, maybe another time!   The sunset colors were very intense….I just had to share a few photos with you!

Because I wasn't shooting in an open area, I wasn't able to catch much in the way of cloud variations~ with the trees all around me. But in the photo above you can see a bit of variance in the clouds.I do like the tree in the upper right corner, as a "frame"!

A horizontal view.............

Here are the elusive porcupine grass “feathers” or seed heads.  Because they are more of a silhouette, it’s not as noticeable that they are shmeared or blurry in the photo!!  😉

Thanks for visiting!
Judy 

All images are copyright © 2005-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

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34 thoughts on “Today’s sunsets….”

    • Well, thank you Sartenada! That is a nice way to look at it. I truly love the trees, and I like to “frame” a photo with them…..I just wish I’d been able to see more of the sunset! But I had no time to run to a more open area (still with trees). As you know…sunsets don’t last long!

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  3. the red sky before the sun sets lasts only for a few minutes and it surely is the loveliest of moments – God’s creation is so humbling and so awe inspiring 🙂

    I like your photos – the silhouttes of porcupine grass resembles to me, us humans. standing tall and strong no matter how rough things get … we stand tall, we sway a bit this way and that (mostly where the wind heads), but we still go on 🙂

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    • Amira…..I think you could quit your civilian job and write poetry for a living….publish books, whatever! You have a delicious way with words!
      I love your idea of the porcupine grass as people standing tall and strong. I’ll tell you a story that reinforces what you have said. The porcupine grass is tall and green in the summer, turning sandy-gold in the fall. Then it dries. We leave it standing all winter, because it makes such a lovely “winter interest” in the garden, swaying to and fro”. When we get heavy rain, snow, and ice in the winter, the porcupine grass will lay flat on the ground. Seven foot stalks prostrate on the ground, for days after a storm. You would never think they’d rise again. But rise they do! Slowly, they come back to a standing position, just as strong as they were before! ~and as you say: We still go on.

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      • what lovely compliments Judy.
        and you know what!!! remember my leap of faith post!!! that’s actually all about my quiting my job. which i have had for almost two decades now. I am now on the wrapping side of my work 🙂

        the decision was not easy because I love what I do at my job too. But as you must have guessed by now I simply love writing and I don’t get the time – after my busy schedule.
        So yes, with encouraging comments from fellow bloggers like yourself I have gained more confidence in my writing. I have written some serious academic stuff. an international book chapter is also coming out in January. and that I love too. But now I have more interest in free writing. just writing my brain out 😆

        And thank you very much for sharing that story about porcupine grass. I have never seen it nor read about porcupine grass. But your photo just gave me that sense. And what a lovely sight it would be to see them stand once again after their prostrating position in the storm. You described it very nicely 🙂
        Thank you

      • I like what you’ve written here. What a tough thing, to love your job but to also love writing, and have to deal with the frustration of time; or lack thereof. It comes back to the ol’ balance thing….and work wins out since that (right now!) is where the paycheck comes from! But I’m very glad you do find some time to come here and “write your brain out”, because what comes out is so full of beauty and meaning for all of your “listeners”. 😉 I’m so impressed that you also write academic “stuff” and you have an international book chapter that will be published. Wow…what testimony to your skills! I’d love to see that! Carry on, my friend! Your talents are many and your inner beauty sparkles……

  5. Very nice work, Judy.

    Re sunsets (and sunrises, for that matter)…they can be an incredibly frustrating experience because you can’t ever be certain whether they’ll be worth the trouble (photographically speaking) of plopping yourself down in an optimal position for picture taking. In my experience, about 1 of every 20 sunrise/sunsets is really worth the effort, but you can’t expect to hit the 5% jackpot without enduring the other 95% of the time. Last year, I took two photo trips of roughly a week’s length each–in West Virginia in the fall and Kentucky in the spring. Unless it was raining (or, in the case of WV, snowing), I was out for sunrise and sunset every single day…roughly two dozen experiences in all. I got some decent shots on multiple occasions, but I only got one truly good sunrise/sunset (in this case, sunrise) out of the whole bunch. It’s the first image visible in this post:

    http://lightscapesphotography.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/off-the-beaten-path/)

    One out of 24…pretty much par for the course.

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    • I haven’t checked your link…..but if it’s the one I think…that was the first post I ever saw on your site….and I just was astounded. The misty morning with the foggy look…and you were above the fog/mist? I’ll go check it out. I have been back to look at these again twice more, if you can believe!
      I understand what you are saying. I have some sunsets that are much better than I caught last night….and I treasure them. But I ran like crazy last night because the color was so intense, and we don’t usually see that here! 😉 “tripping over the tripod crazy” lol I appreciate your comments SO much. Thanks for them! (PS…I’m on my way over!!)

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      • I’m guessing you’re referring to one of the WV images from Bear Rocks. The one I linked was from a post last May; the image was shot in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky, from the Swift Creek Overlook. What made the sunrise itself so special was that the cloud bank on the eastern horizon simply lit up, reflecting red/orange sunrise light. The scene itself was aided by a host of valley fog; I was standing on a rocky gorge outcrop with the upper level of the mist literally lapping at my feet, so I could kind of shoot over it. But the sunrise itself…it would have been a great sunrise no matter where I was standing that morning. It might not have been a great image–depending on where I was standing–but it would have been a great sunrise. And that’s kind of my point, though I’ve raised it rather elliptically.

        I know exactly what you mean about great sunsets not being a common occurrence in the Midwest; we had a nice one in central Indiana yesterday, but there’s no way we average one really good sunrise/sunset every two weeks in either central Indiana or northeast Illinois. So I completely understand why you tripped over your tripod to capture it. 🙂

      • I know what image you are referring to….the first one…where it’s like you’re flying over the tree tops! I love that one! It is just stunning!
        I should have made more of a fuss over it in my comments. But I did notice it! It’s just that once I get on your site, I can’t stop scrolling and browsing! You take SOOOO many spectacular photos, Kerry! I do love the one you are talking about. One of my thoughts on that one was: you must have been standing on the very edge of the cliff! Awesome!

  7. waoo man, i just cant believe that u took all those shoots, u r also an amazing photographer as well .
    hey i just thinking i should visit u to take my pics when ever i need to update my dp on twitter and fb 😀

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    • Well, did the shoots work? Are you done with papers? Thanks for the compliments, demonsking! You are too funny! But what’s a dp? I have twitter and FB, I don’t know what dp is! 🙂

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      • ahhhh….okay! Gotcha! Once I got a smart phone I could not believe how much easier it was to upload pix to FB with that, rather than the Mac. Wow…just seconds! (you have to remember I grew up with a dial phone…so these things are exciting for me!) So one week left for papers? I’m sending a boatload of bamboo…… 😉

    • hehehe sane here,when i was in 2nd grade and i used to pass the time in the class i used to wish that time why fb and cells phones have to be invented after 5 years when i need them right now 😛
      lol thanx ayeee 🙂 just waiting for them to reach out to me

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  8. Pingback: Sunset Over Jacksonville | Young's Blog

    • Thank you very much! The sunset colors did get very intense that evening….and in the upper mid-west we don’t often have those beautiful, deep ranges. So I ran for the camera!! 😉 Thanks for visiting!

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  10. What a lovely sunset. All those bright colours! It almost looks surreal but then you realise that moments like these capture these stunning moments for us to remember.

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