This is a shot 15 months in the making. I had seen closeup photos of this rock with the sun setting behind it online and in August 2009 ventured the 2.5 hours from my house to do a similar shot. I made a day of, driving down the coast and stopping to take photos along the way. I got this beach at 5:30pm. Sunset was at 9:45pm, I waited, got setup, was preparing to make a great sunset photo and the sun set 30 degrees to the north. I realized that the sun only set directly behind this rock certain times of the year. I got home, did the calculations and figured out it only set behind the rock twice a year and I had missed it by 2 months.
I marked the next one on on my calendar and again made the 2.5 hour trek only to be fogged out. Couldn't even see the rock from the beach. Marked the calendar for 6 months later but was travelling that entire month and never made it. So marked my calendar for this Nov and finally made and had good conditions.
Personally this is one of my least favorite photos of the day. On another photo site I posted several and everyone loved this one. I'll post the others and you can be the judge.
Score have been steady rising, currently at 6.7143 with 49 votes in.
Statistics
Place: 11 out of 264 Avg (all users): 6.7364 Avg (commenters): 7.2222 Avg (participants): 6.5060 Avg (non-participants): 7.1522 Views since voting: 14232 Views during voting: 235 Votes: 129 Comments: 16 Favorites: 8 (view)
Great shot! CA central coast is beautiful! It's funny that you state this is one of your least favorite shots of the day... for what it's worth I love it! Great work in capturing the sun at just the right angle here. The composition is great and the colors really pop. The 15 month story is good too! Way to hang in there! Again, well done and congrats.
Fantastic angle to catch the sun... I'd like to see it with the rock on the far left either cropped or cloned out as it draws the eye, and perhaps a little more headroom for the rock. Still a 7 though.
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