Golden Gardens Sunset, Seattle, Washington

I've been working at breaking out of the annual winter slump when I can find opportunities and motivation. Late in the afternoon today I noticed a lot of interesting things happening in the clouds - lenticulars forming over the Olympic Mountain range, other sweeping clouds, potentially mammatus clouds , and fast-moving low clouds. Unlike most days, there looked to be a break in cloud on the west horizon and I knew there was potential for a fiery display at sunset. I got in my car and drove down to Golden Gardens Park on the shore of the Puget Sound, just a few minutes from home.

While better than usual, the sunset didn't quite turn into the display I had hoped for, but it was still interesting. The high clouds never really lit up, but the low clouds did catch some warm light just a few minutes before the sunset. The winds were blowing fiercely (I had planned to shot large format, but when my tripod blew over the instant I let go of it, I decided that was a bad idea), and that brought the waves crashing in. I opted to damped the chaos in the water by using my ND400 filter allowing for a much longer exposure. The trade-off was that even the clouds show substantial movement, which was not necessarily what I had in mind (I could really use a neutral density filter that isn't so dark as my ND400).

While most people were indoors watching the superbowl, it was nice to be out at the beach doing what I enjoy most, even with the cold and the wind.

Nikon D90 | Sigma 10-20@18mm | f/11 | 10s | ISO200 | Tripod

Tyler Westcott Photography on Facebook

All text and images © Tyler Westcott, All rights reserved, Unless otherwise noted.