Week 2: Paragliding Over Sunset

Last Sunday, my grandparents invited me out to their house in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA, on the outskirts of Encinitas. My grandparents are an amazing duo whom, as of August, have been married 68 years. They're best friends. Every time I stay at their house, I can hear them down the hall laughing until they fall asleep. In fact, it's an ongoing debate within our family which one of them could live longer if the other one past away.



I took these pictures from their patio while enjoying their company and old, married bickering before going out to an opera bar after sunset. Being with them and seeing the view, there really is no other description for the evening except the word perfect. And the site fits them so well. "Long walks on the beach" are widely regarded with a romantic sentiment. An escape to somewhere tropical where relaxation takes over and you let love and light into your life, as cliche as that sounds. But sitting on the patio of two people whom are my relationship role models, enjoying such a cliched romantic sunset with a paraglider slowly moving through the sky, make romance seem hopeful.



Going to Cardiff is a great way for me to de-stress and relax. I get to spend time with two of the most amazing people in this world, whom are so in love with each other that they've been able to make it work for almost 70 years, which they will totally make it to. And I've asked them several times, "What's your favorite place you've traveled in this world?" They've traveled the world together and both have agreed, "Cardiff. Out of everywhere we've been in the world, there's no place we enjoy or find more beautiful in its every day presence as our home." Also, just throwing this out there, but a duo-paraglider date over a sunset would be the most amazing thing ever.

So, let's get to the lighting; the first photo was taken at approximately 4:53 PM on Sunday evening. I thought the white light hitting the water, reflecting as white light, was really beautiful. It was difficult to capture because I took it as a panorama and each frame kept trying to auto-white balance the photograph and so the sides of the panorama kept turning out black or extremely off balance with the center. This photo to me though says hope and beauty. It's mostly symmetrical, minus the silhouette of the palm trees and though the photo mostly consists of cool colours, the angle creates a hopeful, memory feel to it with the fading brightness into the sky.

The second photo was taken on the same day about an hour and a half later. The sun, now due to angle and physical atmosphere, appears that romantic yellow, amber in what most people would regard as a beautiful sunset. The reflections of amber in the blue water illuminate the Earth with vibrance and allow all things land based, including a human flying in the air whom I consider land based since he is from land, are silhouetted and masked. Aside from general shapes to conclude what objects are, there really is no light in the photograph to distinguish what non-reflective surfaces actually are. It's interesting that the mystery which the sunset creates with silhouettes and majestic colours can be considered romantic. But every romance has at least a little mystery, right?