In 2022, I took a short overnight backpacking trip to the Highland Mary Lakes in the Weminuche Wilderness near Silverton, Colorado. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I did a shorter loop with just a single night in the wilderness before hiking back out. But in that short trip, I was hit by a crazy afternoon monsoon and then treated to a beautiful, soft sunset that you only see on those days when there’s a lot of moisture in the sky. Perfectly Colorado!

I have a backlog of unpublished photos, including this gem from a prolific trip I took to Europe in 2018. On this same trip, I took a lot of favorites including several from Paris and a panorama of Stockholm. However, a folder of images remained untouched. Finally, I revisited them, and this one stood out. But where was it taken?

In 2019, I took a couple of wonderful sunset photos of Seattle’s West Point Lighthouse while on a business trip. I wrote about one of them in 2020, including details about how and why I ended up in this location. But I’ve long had this second version of the photo in my archives, and I’m happy to share it now.

While exploring Kona’s Hapuna Beach in 2019, I was looking for a scene that really inspired me. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the beach, and found this spot where it transitioned back to natural rock and trees, that I found what I was looking for. I loved the meeting of sand, rock, trees, ocean, and sky with the moon setting on the horizon. And yet I have also long struggled with this photo and feeling like it was not ready for sharing.

Sometimes you find a great photo you didn’t expect in a wonderful location. While visiting family in Pagosa Springs in 2015, I had an idea to take sunset photos on Piedra Road north of town. On one evening in particular, I raced out after the conclusion of a family event and arrived just in time to see the sun had already set. Despite the missed opportunity, I was able to capture a different kind of beauty – an ethereal blue hour shot.