The three pics above are my favourite pics - so I decided they had to come before the main "body" of my post for today! Anyway I've now adopted a habit of going to Bather's Beach at the end of the week - to watch the sunset. I've done it for three weeks in a row already, and I will most likely sustain this till the end of the semester or something!
It had been a pretty rainy September, so sunsets weren't as dramatic because of the cloud cover. This time - I went when the skies were much, much clearer.
Before I went to the beach, I had my favourite paella at Fremantle Markets. I remembered craving for paella for three whole weeks...and now this is the second time this week that I'm having paella! I can never get tired of paella.
Caught up with a really close friend of mine at the markets too! Both of us didn't expect to bump into each other, and we were so happy that we actually met up briefly! We're both studying in the same university, and we keep in very regular contact...although I wish I could go out with her more often, as I really enjoy her company.
After leaving the markets, I went straight to the beach, and arrived just in time for sunset! The first thing I saw when walking to the beach was this gorgeous orange and blue mix...
Looks like I'm not the only one interested in watching sunsets! There were quite a few people hanging around - most of them couples...and they were all waiting for the moment where the sun dipped into the horizon.
This time, I brought my 70-300mm telephoto lens. When I focused at the distant skies, I noticed that the sun now appeared much larger...and so spectacular. It was like a giant ball of fire...and it was so epic! It was partially hidden by some clouds...but check out how epic it looked!
As the sun set, it disappeared behind some clouds, but still lit the skies up in this brilliant orange hue.
Last bits of the sun as it dipped slowly into the horizon, and finally disappeared. The clouds remained illuminated in a gorgeous, brilliant orange.
People started leaving the beach by then, but I decided to stay longer and enjoy the sound of waves.
South Mole lighthouse in the distance. The North Mole lighthouse is behind the South Mole lighthouse - partially hidden by a rectangular building. Had to use my telephoto lens for this!
It didn't get dark as quickly as I thought, so I decided to hang around and experiment with some textures! I chose to focus on the waves crashing against the rocks. In the previous post - I got splashed by waves (and my jeans were thoroughly soaked in the process!) twice. This time, I was determined to stay dry!
So I decided to position myself on some higher rocks...and that gave me good opportunities to take pics of waves - using a slow shutter speed...and staying dry at the same time. Here're the first few pics I took:
Played around with the settings of my camera and managed to get a "bigger picture" of what was going on. It took me quite a few attempts to get the patterns and textures I wanted. But I was pretty satisfied with the eventual results!
Notice the change in the colour of the skies as these pics were taken. It started getting dark pretty fast!
Now the clouds appeared dark grey and the orange hue was gradually being replaced by shades of dark blue and purple...and of course, it was getting colder. The waves were starting to get higher and stronger, so I decided it was time for me to get to higher ground.
Spotted a couple hanging out in this shelter here, and decided to take a pic of their silhouette against the sky. It's been a while since I had pics like this. I think the last time I took such a pic was in April...
And then I attempted taking a pic of the shelter's silhouette. I kinda like the effect!
Hung around in this shelter, and noticed that the waves were getting stronger and stronger. Decided to take some long-exposure pics of the waves just as they were crashing against the shore.
The waves don't really show up here - but they were getting higher and higher each time. Anyway I was still positioned at the shelter, so I took this pic just before I left. Used the railings as a makeshift tripod for my camera. I swear, it was getting so cold!
Although I had paella for dinner, I was hungry by the time I walked back to the city centre. So I went for a big mug of hot chocolate. Yay for extra chocolate bits!
And that's it for a pleasant Friday evening! I should really continue this habit of watching the sunset...so far I've found that it helps a lot in relaxation and mindfulness, plus I get to eat lots of good food! So yeah - lots of pleasure over such an activity!
Will be posting pics of the South Mole lighthouse in the next post! Do stay tuned!