The Beauty and Science of Sunset

The event happened every 5 to 6 pm everyday. It is so common that we stop giving or attention to it anymore. And yes you are right, I am talking about sunsets, given the fact that it is in the title of the post.

During what most photographers called the "Golden Hour", the sun emits soft golden rays. It is a period shortly before sunset during which daylight is softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky. It soften everything and makes them looks golden, from buildings to various object around us. Apart from the Golden Hour, there are actually many stages to the movement of the sun.

In fact, there are 8 stages:

Sunset
Civil Twilight
Civil Dusk
Nautical Twilight
Nautical Dusk
Astronomical Twilight
Astronomical Dusk
Night
As you can see in the diagram, immediately after the sun is out of sight, it takes about 1 hour and 12 minutes in addition before it is technically called "night".

The most interesting ones are the twilight stages, where the sky is a gradient of two colors.

As for me, each day, there is a completely different painting in the sky which makes it unique daily. Some days it might look dull, some other times it looks dramatic and some even emotional.

The point here is that people often focus on their works and problems too much that they almost neglected the beauty of nature. Since the industrial revolution and capitalism, work is the first priority to everyone. Sometimes even to the point of ignoring there own physical, mental and spiritual well being.

Looking at sunsets always gives me the feeling of peace and serenity. It connects me back to nature where we all belong to. The vast sky makes us feel small, reminding that one day everything will all come to an end. Everything will go back to where it came from, nature creates and destroys you. Death is inevitable, even though humans are trying to find a fix for that, such as reverse aging and the like.

The clouds, on the other hand, seems to move without any stress and anxiety. They don't care who the president is, they don't care how the world economy is heading. They just exist and drift along the sky without stopping to worry whether it offended anybody or not.

We should appreciate and learn from nature, we should start worrying less. I'm not preventing you to stop concerning about any problems at all, but to not take things so seriously. Sometimes we just have to drift along with life and trying not to resist it. Who knows, it could be pushing you to the solutions and happiness when you are there worrying and trying to be stiff.

This photo above was taken in my father's hometown, in Eng Snol, Kandal province. There is an innocent cow in the foreground grazing the grass that grows on the rice field after it's harvested. Behind it is a scenery of a sun that had set not long ago, and it split the sky into two spectrum of light. The clouds added more details in the sky and gave a more contrast look.

When I saw that, I was calm and dazzled by it's beauty. Not to mention what the camera took from that shot was only a fraction of how hypnotizing the scene really looked.

Next time, when the sun is setting, take a moment to appreciate what nature have to offer. To put it in another term, it's nature stress reliever. Someday it might not look interesting, but when it do, I promise, it will be breathtaking. 🙂