Sunsets & rises ~ travel edition.

Oh what a cliché eh? Sunsets and sunrises are 10 a penny, calendars, postcards, instagram and facebook’s dodgy phone shots. I have succumbed though, throughout the years of taking pictures. If I see a sunset or less often, a sunrise, I will raise the camera and attempt to capture the uncapturable. For remembering where I was and what I was doing at the time, for the swell of emotion I remember feeling as the colours intensify, change, and fade. For the beauty. This post is of sunsets and sunrises I’ve seen on my travels away from the UK.

In 2000 my friend Andy emigrated from Milton Keynes in the UK to Al Haurin El Grande near the southern coast of Spain, he hired a white van to take all his stuff in, and asked me to go with him so I could bring back the van, a road trip of nearly 1500 miles each way. I took Ben with me, and we drove all day and night to arrive in Spain at 7am.

“If I should capture the most beautiful sunrise, only then, will I stop capturing them.”
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7am, at Andy’s mother’s home, Al Haurin El Grande, Spain.

“You have to travel far and wide to see a lot of the world’s wonders, but sunsets can be appreciated in every corner of the earth.”
~ Kimmie Conner

Bray, France, 2007

“At sunrise, the blue sky paints herself with gold colors and joyfully dances to the music of a morning breeze.”
~ Debasish Mridha

Monastir, Tunisia 2008

“Let the sea breeze blow your hair, let the sunset bring tranquility to your heart, let the distant places you travel allow you to explore yourself.”
~ Somya Kedia

Zeebrugge, Belgium 2012

“Today was about chasing sun-rays, beach waves, & sunsets. All things beautiful that give you peace are worth chasing. Everything else isn’t.”
~ April Mae Monterrosa

Cyprus 2012

“I just need you and some sunsets”
~ Atticus

Sorrento, Italy, 2013

“…At every sunset, the sky is a different shade. No cloud is ever in the same place. Each day is a new masterpiece. A new wonder. A new memory.”
~ Sanober Khan

Lake Ontario, USA, 2014

The redness had seeped from the day and night was arranging herself around us. Cooling things down, staining and dyeing the evening purple and blue black.”
~ Sue Monk Kidd

Eddy’s home, Poland 2017

“Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful but because they are fleeting.”
~ Richard Paul Evans

The Lion’s Mound, Wallonia, Belgium, 2018

“Softly the evening came with the sunset.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Artemino, Tuscany, Italy 2019

All pictures clickable to embiggen.

Day 335~366

This is the last day of Crystal Ball month.  I worked today so thought I’d end up doing a fetchingly creative night shot, but the universe gifted me an amazing sunset.  Didn’t have time to get to high ground, so made the best of it in the upstairs bedrooms and my garden.

This is a shot from my front bedroom window, with my largest crystal

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I haven’t faffed on with these shots, I could have lightened the shadows but really it wouldn’t add anything to the shot, it’s all about those colours in the sky.

The back bedroom windows don’t have such a great view, but thats where the sunset is more intense, so I took a shot first in the back garden,

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and then ran upstairs and hung out of one of the windows to get a full shot of it, not easy because Skye came bounding up and tried to jump out past me!

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It’s ages since I’ve seen such a red sunset, it does happen here now and then though and am so pleased I got the last shot in the ball with it.  Tomorrow it’s on to ‘light’.  31 days to go!!

 

Day 333 & Day 334~366

Yesterday morning I got up at 6am, packed my bags and went off to Newcastle railway station where I met my friend (and boss) Brenda to go to a product launch in Manchester.  It was due to start with lunch at 12 midday and to get there on time we were catching the 9.43am to York, changing trains and on to Manchester Piccadilly for 11.45am with a 10 minute walk to the venue.  Brenda arrived at the station with 1 minute to spare, and we ran on to the train and off we went.  There was a delay at one point, when we slowed down and stopped, which apparently was down to someone falling ill on a train at Northallerton and having to be taken off it in an ambulance, but 5 minutes later we were off again.  I didn’t realise Brenda was then panicking that we would miss our connecting train at York, but we got there with 7 minutes to spare.  Once we got off the train Brenda charged over to the platform where our train was and chivvied me up, ‘come on come on before they shut the door on us’ she yells, and on we rushed, into a nice empty carriage with tables, and we sat down. ‘What are you panicking about?’ says I, and she told me that on her last trip on a train to London, she got to her changeover train and the guard shut the door just as she got there and wouldn’t let her on. “Can’t have the train being late” he said, “it’s not late” she said “there’s still 2 minutes to go”, “well we are allowed to shut the doors 2 minutes before it’s due to leave” he replied “everybody knows that!”  And he would not let her on, so she had to wait for the next train to London, and pay £126 for a ticket, for a journey she’d already paid for.  So that was the reason for the panic.  The train set off and we got comfortable, and the Captain (? driver/pilot, not sure what they’re called) came over the tannoy, “Good morning, this is the 236 to Newcastle, calling at Darlington, and Durham! We were on the wrong train going back the way we came!  It took 45 minutes to get to Darlington, where we got off and went to the travel office to ask what to do. The lady told us we’d have to get on the next train and tell the ticket collector what had happened, and he would then either let us off or we’d have to buy new tickets.  When’s the next train we asked, well it’s been cancelled, she said so you’ll have to get on the direct train to Manchester which is with another company and leaves in an hour. So we went and had coffee, and hung around the station until that train came, and then got on that. Now Brenda was certain we’d have to buy new tickets, but when the collector came around I did the googley sorrowful eyes at him, explained what had happened and he let us stay on without buying a new ticket.  Of course the barriers in and out of the platform areas are automated and work by wafting your ticket at a sensor, and of course ours wouldn’t work, so we ended up having to explain the thing all over again to get out.  Eventually we got to where we were supposed to be, 2 hours late, and stopping off along the walk from the station for Brenda to buy a new top for the evening dinner, as she’d forgotten to pack hers!  We had a fab time at the product launch, the company doing it paid for us to stay in a very nice hotel (£235 a night!!!) and took us all out to dinner, and all drinks were paid for the whole night.  As there were about 30 of us, it must have run into a few 1000 quid, so I hope they all sell lots of the product.  I don’t do sales anymore, but have to know about it all as I do fittings and service work for Brenda so it’s still useful for me to go along. I don’t think we stopped laughing about our journey for hours on and off!  On the way back we had a direct train to Newcastle, and got to the platform 10 minutes before it was due, but then it got delayed by 34 minutes due to problems somewhere with the signals, so had to sit in the freezing cold waiting for what seemed like ages.  I missed my car a lot!

I used the iPhone a few times along the way,

Newcastle Station, which is quite a beauty

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I did take the ball with me, but not too many opportunities to use it, I did one at Darlington station which I wish was a bit better than it turned out, but it’s all I got, so this is Day 334

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iPhone shot of the station, another lovely station, that’s Brenda on the left walking ahead

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I took a shot of Huddersfield Station as we went through, as this is where I grew up

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This was my hotel room

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and the mini bar and coffee making machine I couldn’t figure out how to work it, it’s one of those George Clooney nespresso things, half a bottle of champagne, £17.50 ~ needless to say I didn’t avail myself of it!

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After the product launch, which was at the top of the hotel, we went onto an outside terrace, and I took a shot looking down through the glass safety barrier

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and the sunset over Manchester was spectacular, so it had to be done

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and my final shot was my ball shot today, on the way to the station we stopped for a coffee and I took a shot of the Chetham Music College

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but I like the sunset shots best 🙂

Now home again, and back to work in the morning! Adventure over for now 🙂 .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 331~366

This afternoon I went for a walk on Cleadon Hills, hadn’t been there before, but thought I might catch the sunset as it’s high up.  I managed to park in the wrong place and ended up walking up a really steep muddy hill to get to the top, as opposed to the gentle incline I could have taken if I’d just driven a bit further down the road.  No matter, I survived (though my leg muscles may not forgive me tomorrow) and it was worth it for the views.  I walked a lot further than intended and realised I’d have to get back before dark set in and I had to go down the slippery hill in the dark, thereby missing the view of the glorious sunset from the top, and just catching a little bit of it on the way down. So not a great success, and I will have to return in summer and do the ‘proper’ walk for a fraggle report.

Cleadon Water Tower at the top of my muddy hill.

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The view from further along, by Cleadon Mill.

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Same view, in the ball, and my shot of the day

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and the missed sunset through the trees at the  bottom of the hill.

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Day 330~366

Skye has had a better day today, we are on an emotional rollercoaster with her at the minute, she’s been eating, pooping, and is a bit more awake today. However she’s now living on the kitchen work benches and follows me about the kitchen tops getting in the way when I’m trying to cook, or as shown here, doing the ironing. She tried to get on the ironing board whilst I was doing it, but settled instead on my freshly ironed clothes. At least we have a respite, as tomorrow was going to be vet day if things had gone on as they were.  Very relieved, until the next time.

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So on with the ball shots.  Today was a very blue sky day, but cold of course, so I waited until nearly sundown before going up to the Angel of the North to catch some golden hour tones in the sky, and on the angel.

This I think is my fave and so my shot of the day,

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but also took some from different angles

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and also here’s the angel without the ball,

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Hope everyone has a good weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving to my USA followers!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 312~366

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

Rabindranath Tagore

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Day 228~366

The meaning of colours 5~Blue

Blue has more complex and contradictory meanings than any other color. These can be easily explained by pinpointing by the specific shade of blue.
Bright blue: cleanliness, strength, dependability, coolness
(The origin of these meanings arise from the qualities of the ocean and inland waters, most of which are more tangible.)

Light (sky) blue: peace, serenity, ethereal, spiritual, infinity
(The origin of these meanings is the intangible aspects of the sky.)

Most blues convey a sense of trust, loyalty, cleanliness, and understanding. On the other hand, blue evolved as symbol of depression in American culture. “Singing the blues” and feeling blue” are good examples of the complexity of color symbolism and how it has been evolved in different cultures.

Blue’s global similarities are significant:

Blue is the #1 favorite color of all people.

53% of the flags in the world contain blue.

Blue is the most commonly used color in corporate identity.

A dark blue suit is professional business attire.

Blue jeans are worn all over the world.

Aristocracy is blue-blooded in all European languages.

Unique Meanings of Blue in Different Cultures

Greeks believe that blue wards off “the evil eye.

The English “to feel blue” has no equivalent in other languages while in German “blau sein” (literally: to be blue) means to be drunk or in Russian “голубой” (literally: light blue) means to be homosexual.

Dark blue is the color of mourning in Korea.

The god Krishna has blue skin.

Shades of blue are described as shallow or deep instead of light or dark in China.

Blue is for a baby girl; pink for a baby boy in Belgium.

“Prince Charming” is called “The Blue Prince” in Italy and Spain.

(info from Colour Matters)

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and because she was there…

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Day 144~366

Well I struggled with this one, took lots of shots and different exposures and tried to use the HDR programme, but nothing looked right. So have used a RAW shot and faffed the heck out of it in lightroom & NikFX processing software. I was wanting to show the carpet of buttercups now surrounding my tree with the orangey/pinky glow of the sky, but it didn’t work out. I was being attacked by midges too which didn’t help matters. Never mind, I will try again at some point, maybe in different light!

Not my best, but, always learning something!

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Day 143~366

Last night we had a sunset spectacular, so firstly this is a different tree, my old Eucalyptus which has followed me from Mum’s garden, to my house in Hemel Hempstead, potted and put on the balcony at my flat in South Shields, then to the back garden of my home here, and then to the front garden. It has to  be propped up as it leans mightily to the right if left to its own devices, and this the top of  it, silhouetted against a glorious sky.

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And now onto my Oak tree!  It rained a fair bit today, so off I went in the downpour to catch the tree leaves in the rain, it had a good drink today.

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Back to work tomorrow, so will be doing evening shots of the tree, fingers crossed for more cool sunsets 🙂

Day 131~366

I was home a bit earlier this evening, and the sky had some lovely golden tones, so I thought I’d do an evening shot instead of a silhouette in case my sunsets were boring!  As always at this time of day, I had my trusty tripod, and took bracketed shots which I processed in Aurora HDR (which is in my humble opinion THE best HDR software I’ve used.)

So this is the shot I went to get

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which turned out quite well I think, but then I decided to focus on the gold, and do a close up for a change…

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That’ll do I thought, packed up my things and started for home. As I looked back I saw that this had happened!!

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So ran back and set up to take some more shots 🙂

and finally, my favourite happened and it was glorious!

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apologies for so many sunsets, after tomorrow I’ll be back to shooting in the day so might get a bit of diversity!

 

Day 130~366

Late home from work again tonight and homework to do too. Sunset time was at 9pm so I got out there for 8.45pm and found a moon in the sky, the tree was trying to catch it as it went sailing by.

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