Sunset on the same day
Having glimpsed the Chicago skyline from Indiana Dunes State Park early on the afternoon of June 17th, we went a little further west later in the day and staked out a high place at the Portage Lakefront from which to view what we hoped would be a good sunset. It was.
As in the previous photograph, a telephoto lens made things seem larger and closer than they really were.
© 2016 Steven Schwartzman
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What a difference a few hours can make. Both of today’s photos are beautiful, but together, they’re compelling: the cool, almost tropical blues of your earlier photo, transformed into the fiery reds and oranges of sunset, and the mysterious, lava-black lake.
shoreacres
August 3, 2016 at 8:05 PM
Ooh, what a great epithet: lava-black. I lucked out in being able to get two such different views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline on the same day. If we’d visited the Indiana Dunes a day earlier, we’d have had to contend with largely overcast skies.
Steve Schwartzman
August 3, 2016 at 8:12 PM
The bird pulled me in.
Dianne
August 3, 2016 at 8:23 PM
I hope you were able to climb back out afterwards. (Yes, the bird grabbed me too.)
Steve Schwartzman
August 3, 2016 at 8:25 PM
Quite a day, indeed. I really like what you’ve done with the sun (or, rather, what the sun did for you)!
krikitarts
August 3, 2016 at 9:08 PM
Part of me wanted the sun to do even more by lining up with the main buildings, but it stubbornly insisted on setting further south. Wherever it went down, I’m certainly glad it loomed so large.
Steve Schwartzman
August 3, 2016 at 9:26 PM
I like it better not lined up~this is really dramatic.
melissabluefineart
August 3, 2016 at 9:57 PM
I think you’re right that the non-alignment worked out better than the alignment that a part of me craved. Let’s hear it for asymmetry, and of course drama as well.
Steve Schwartzman
August 4, 2016 at 5:25 AM
Wow, that sky looks like it is on fire. What a sight.
LensScaper
August 4, 2016 at 12:20 PM
I can tell you that I was happy to see it, and of course to be able to record it.
Steve Schwartzman
August 4, 2016 at 12:58 PM
I would say without doubt that is a great sunset! 😃
Julie@frogpondfarm
August 4, 2016 at 2:43 PM
And I wholeheartedly concur. We lucked out.
Steve Schwartzman
August 4, 2016 at 2:48 PM
That is how our days have been lately…foggy in the morning and a brilliant sunset to end it. Ideal. I much prefer these cloudy skies for the spread of color over the clear ones with a defined solar orb. The bird (gull?) is a nice finishing touch.
Steve Gingold
August 5, 2016 at 3:51 AM
The beginning of your comment made me think of Wordsworth:
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Like you, I was grateful for the way the not-too-heavy clouds dispersed the light of the setting sun into vivid colors, and like you felt the bird to be a great finishing touch.
Steve Schwartzman
August 5, 2016 at 4:40 AM
The texture of the water on my screen almost makes it look rocky, like jagged coal. It’s such a great contrast with the sky. Something about the scene reminds me a little of a cover of a fantasy or science fiction novel. The flying birds add the element of real life to it. I love it, Steve.
Jane
August 6, 2016 at 7:03 AM
Thanks, Jane. My literal mind kicked in when I saw the beginning of your comment. The “water on my screen” made me think someone had splashed your monitor. I do see what you mean about the dark water looking rocky; something igneous, I’d say. I also see what you mean about the picture resembling something from the cover of a science fiction novel. The bird was a great bonus. I see from looking at my archive that the bird appeared in differing places in the next four frames over about 20 seconds.
Steve Schwartzman
August 6, 2016 at 7:26 AM