Proper Sunset Design.

Remember my summer solstice post in which I bewailed the East Coast design flaw which places the sun on the wrong side of the ocean, ruining many of the finest & potentially most romantic ones by placing them over parking lots?

Well, it was wonderful to be back in a place where the setting sun is placed in the proper relation to the sea:





Of course, it is not always possible to arrange for quite such perfect composition. But in cases where it is necessary for the sun to be more in-shore, the delinquency can be masked or even rectified by proper application of scenic elements, as we see in the following:

Silhouetted beachgoers savoring the end of the day are good, especially families with children and frolicsome sandy dogs. I believe there are those who would vote in favor of a slender wahine in a backlit pareo as proper foreground - my apologies to you folks, this being a G-rated blog you get the families with the keiki & the dog, Maybe Joe can help you out. Here in Kailua, we also see good use of a sweeping white sand beach, admirably restrained use of Mountain and Cloud elements, and the Kite punctuates things nicely.


Here we see another skillful use of beachgoers. The Reflective Lagoon foreground gives a mirror image effect nearly as effective as the sun setting directly into the sea, with the barely-visible curving gunwales of the kayaks that the beachboys have stowed for the night adding a nicely wistful touch. But of course, what truly makes this one is the generous use of Graceful Palms. Funny, they're such a common & familiar element, one could look down one's nose & pooh-pooh them as cliche - but I think that to any but the most tragically jaded of sunset viewers, they remain a truly lovely part of the Classic Island Sunset.


Now here is a much more dramatic use of Mountains and Clouds, with some great God Rays (as my friend Laurie likes to call them - Jamaica Bay actually does a very good job with the God Rays). And of course what sunset isn't improved by the insertion of Sailboats? Moored or sailing, like Graceful Palms, it's just hard to have too many. The simultaneous use of both moored AND sailing sailboats might seem to be a little over-the-top - but really, I think it was a design risk that paid off. Don't you?


Let's see, what else is there that improves any sunset? Hey, I know...

how about a nice
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cold
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(have you guessed now?)
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beer?

Kona Brewing Company's Longboard Lager, in this case!

yes, this might even render one of those sad East Coast Parking Lot Sunsets more palatable.

Thus endeth Bonnie K. Frogma's Introduction to Sunset Design. I hope you enjoyed it.

I'd like to close with this last photo, one that shows one of the marks of a truly well-done sunset, a full three-hundred-and-sixty degree circle of Aaaaah. Yes, I was actually facing directly away from the sun. Just add Diamond Head!