Jon Morgan

Back in 2019, I was already seeing many beautiful sunsets. But working from home during Covid gave me the chance to see even more, and I haven’t been able to give it up. In January I saw at least 17 sunsets, so it’s not surprising that I have a few photos to share… And some of them even have the moon as well 🙂.

Walking after work

To see sunsets more than half the days of a month while working full-time means that many of those days are work days. Hopefully that’s obvious. And January, with its late evenings, is a great time for after-work walks.

It might be on an extended walk after an in-office day:

Or it might be taking the chance to wander my local area after a day working from home:

But there have also been quite a few days where I’ve been on the train home watching the sun sink, and wondering whether I’ll get a good chance to capture it:

Including the day when one of the PSOs at the station said jokingly “You should go up the hill - you’ll get a much better view there” - not knowing that was what I’d planned the whole time. I didn’t know what I’d find, but I wanted to try it. And it was pretty good:

My only wish was that I’d brought my camera to capture it better (actually, one of the reasons I’d left my camera behind was that I’d decided the previous evening I didn’t have time to go walking or chase sunsets. But when I arrived at the station so close to sunset I couldn’t help myself 😉).

Weekend opportunities

For me, weekends provide opportunities to go further afield and spend longer at whatever I choose to do. And since I often don’t get out till at least mid-afternoon, that makes for more sunset opportunities.

It might be near a disc golf course:

Or as part of a longer walk:

Also, given it’s January, this is summer. Some days it’s been too hot for comfortable hiking, so there’s nothing I’ve wanted more than a calming (and cooler) sunset walk:

Things change so quickly

These three photos were taken within four minutes of each other:

But I don’t think you’d know that from looking at them.

The image in the clouds!

Look what I saw one cheerful Saturday:

Perhaps that second face isn’t quite how it looked in real life - but I liked it anyway.

That day, I’d been on a long hike nearly an hour from home, and so was intending to go straight home. Then I got near the place I’d seen a beautiful sunset earlier in the week. That’s one of the advantages of knowing the area: Knowing places where you can probably get a good sunset view.

I wasn’t sure it was worth stopping for sunset: Wouldn’t I just see the same thing all over again? But it was nearly time, and in the end I thought it was worth a shot. And I found, as I’ve sometimes found before, that a different sunset from the same viewpoint can look completely different:

Maybe I’d have got a little more done if I’d gone straight home. But I also wouldn’t have seen the face.

It’s the moon! 🌙

I feel like my sunset photos for the month wouldn’t be complete without sharing a couple of crescent moons at sunset:

It reminds me of a favourite quote from Les Miserables:

Evening had arrived, night had almost closed in; on the horizon and in the immensity of space, there remained but one spot illuminated by the sun, and that was the moon.

Sunset may bring day to an end, but the reflected sunlight can still brighten the night. I love spending time with both sunsets and the moon - and maybe one of these days I’ll get to watching my first sunrise for 2023!