In All Its Splendor

For several days now I’ve been witness to some pretty amazing sunsets. It’s one of my few consolations about the time change. Since I’m still at work when it happens, and I have access to some of the coolest high-rise vantage points to see such things, it’s something I might otherwise miss.

But every day I’ve watched from my little corner window and wished I had my camera. Yesterday, I actually had my camera with me. (One of my colleagues just marked 30 years with the company and we threw her a surprise lunch, so I took a few shots during that.)
As sunset drew nearer, I waited expectantly. I saw some pinks start to appear, but then just as quickly, they were overtaken by cloud cover. Damn. And I had my camera handy, too!

So, I went back to what I was doing. A few minutes later, I looked out again to see a huge orange stripe being burned into the sky. Pinks, blues and purples surrounded the backdrop of downtown. Oh. My. God.

I grabbed my camera and ran to the conference room at the west end of the hall that is filled with windows. (From my window, I could only see a sliver of it all.) From the conference room, it was like colors has exploded into the sky. As I ran, I tagged my assistant. She already knew what I was going to look at! Pretty soon, a few other coworkers came in, too.

This is some of what I shot. They’re pretty. Some are a little out of focus, but you can still see the colors. (It’s through glass without a flash and I guess I didn’t stand perfectly still.) But even these don’t accurately capture what I saw.

One of my coworkers pointed out that the colors are something to do with the atmosphere. Yes, I said. It’s gases being released or something like that. Or at least that’s what I’ve read.

At times like this though, I prefer to believe that it’s a higher power making his presence known, flexing a creative muscle, and maybe even showing off a little bit.