The title of this post comes from my favorite song by The Stranglers, which is also a fantastic sunset-viewing song. I went to the river bottom last Saturday night to chase the sunset. I’d scoped out the location early in the day with my little 2 yr old, but he was safely snuggled in his crib by the time I threw the truck into four wheel drive and started climbing berms with my camera in the passenger seat. What follows is an example of why you should arrive early for a sunset photo and stay a while after the sun has disappeared beyond the horizon.

This is the shot I went down there to get. Obviously I got it. But the sun and its colors were just getting started…

This tree was out in the river channel a ways and proved an ideal foreground subject. By this time the sun was beginning to cast a deep gold color across the sky. It wasn’t the only thing sticking out of the water, however.

As clouds moved in from the south, the sunset took on more of those familiar red and pink hues, offsetting the deep blue of the sky. I had found a new foreground: these three sticks, stumps, branches, or whatever.

This is a long exposure to smooth out the ripples of the river as well as the wake left downstream of each of these protruding branches. It was tricky to get it just right.

The end of the sunset, with the reds and pinks turning to purples and pale blues. Time to check for ticks, hop back in the truck, and start working my way back to civilization. Mission accomplished.

As you can see from these photos, one sunset can provide quite a variety of different shots. These were all taken within 100 yards of each other, yet they look like different locations on different evenings. It’s simply a matter of patience. Start with a good location, arrive early, stay late.