Navarre Beach Glow



 Well, I thought I kick off this blog with my latest creation, Navarre Beach Glow.

We have been having rain and cloudy sky's, pretty much every day for the last week or so, due to Hurricane Laura, so sunsets have been lackluster to say the least. Now, before we get to far, you will notice a recurring theme in most all the blog posts and that is "last minute" for sunset shoots, heck and many others to boot....lol.

Yesterday, 30 Aug, the clouds finally started to clear a little, since our house faces west and I have a pretty clear view of the western sky, I noticed what mite be a break in the clouds near the horizon (critical for good sunset color), so a last minute decision was made to head out and see what I could find. Now, many times (even during last minute shoots) I have an idea for a shot in mind, depending on how the sky looks. This time as I headed out, I had no idea, other than to head towards Navarre proper. While heading that way (6 miles) I settled on Navarre park, just off the hwy and on the Sound (Coastal Waterway). I arrived at the park and for the shot I had in mind, I needed the southern facing clouds to light up and that was not looking promising, I hung out for a few minutes, deciding, the way things were looking (more clouds moving through) that the shoot would be a wash. I decided to do what I usually do in these circumstances and that was to go on over across the bridge and do a little scouting. I made it over to the Navarre Marine Park and just wasn't getting to inspired by anything, the sun has just set, with some but not much color in the sky. I walked down towards the beach at one of the pavilion dune crossings, stood at the end and just watched the waves roll in.

Then, out of nowhere it started to happen, the sky to the south started lighting up and glowing with beautiful sunset colors. I ran back to the car, grabbing my camera and tripod and headed back to where I just was. I had formulated a composition in my mind and quickly set up to get the shot before it all went away. I was able to fire off a couple of shots and then settle down and see if it got any better. As dumb luck would have it, I got my shots at the peak of color, I was happy looking at the back of the camera, and then settled in to just enjoy the moment.


While enjoying the moment, I turned around to face east and spotted this lone lady reading a book and enjoying the solitude of her own little slice of heaven, and I took this shot. While there no defined subject, I think it somehow works, the white beach draws you into the lady, and then your eyes begins to wander around the photo.  Exploring different areas, the last hints of light and texture in the clouds. The sea oats swaying in the wind and the smooth gulf waves breaking just off shore.

 Now it was time to head home.

The next morning I processed these images, which really didn't take much and was very happy with the results.

I hope you enjoyed this first posting, let me know in the comments or on facebook. Thanks for stopping by and spending a few minutes with me and we'll see you next time.

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