Sunset Photo: Seal Rock, Oregon

This photograph of the sunset colors over the Pacific Ocean was made while on my way to a moonlighting job. I taught martial arts classes for a couple years in the evenings on the Oregon coast, and for a short while one of the classes I taught was near Yachats, somewhat south and west of where I lived in Siletz.

U.S. Route 101 hugs the coastline closely there, affording many distracting views. On this particular evening I was driving south when the bank of clouds above the horizon were in perfect placement to reflect the colors of the sun -- very recently disappeared below the horizon -- down onto the water.

These kinds of 'reflective' sunset scenes seem to be dependent on the placement of the clouds. If they are too high above the horizon, they glow within themselves, but do not reflect back down onto the surface very much. If the clouds extend all the way beyond the horizon, they seem to cut off the sun's last colors.

In this photo, the sun has the perfect 'slot' in which to reflect its colors off the cloud bank onto the surf and the wet beach sand.

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