Palm trees and sunsets seem to be made for each other. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
My father, who was a talented landscape photographer and painter, always discussed sunsets with a certain disdain. “Post card art,” he would sniff. When I sorted through his thousands of slides after he passed away, however, what did I find: dozens if not hundreds of sunset photos. Apparently, the old fellow had been as addicted to sunsets as I am.
Scenic sunsets beg to be photographed… even more so when warm tropical breezes and palm trees are involved. Peggy and I found ourselves out on the beach every evening in Puerto Vallarta waiting for the show to start, and we were never disappointed. I’ll let the photos tell the story.
I caught these two palms outlined against the sky with just a hint of color in the clouds.
After a long day of work, a beach vendor heads home just as the sun drops behind the horizon.
Clouds always add drama to sunsets. We watched as this impressive cumulus cloud changed from white, to golden, to pink. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
Our grandkids Ethan and Cody joined us in downtown Puerto Vallarta to catch the sunset. (Photo by Natasha Cox.)
Another shot from the same perspective looking down Puerto Vallarta’s beach front across Banderas Bay.
I took this photo with my camera inches above the sand. Think of it as a crab’s perspective on the sunset.
Another view.
Sea foam adds its own twist to sunset photos on the beach.
Sometimes the colors of a sunset are so vivid they seem unreal. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
Just for fun, I’ll conclude this post with a non-sunset photo. I gave you the sea from the perspective of a crab. This is a palm tree from the perspective of an iguana.
NEXT BLOG: I will wrap up my Puerto Vallarta series with a few photos I couldn’t fit into my posts including a whale and one small boy catching a very big fish.
Wandering through Time and Place 
These are gorgeous.. One of the perks of living on the Florida Gulf coast beaches are the sunsets.. No two are ever the same (I too have a huge file of sunset pics like your Dad)..
Beautiful photos. I love the crab view! I also have dozens of sunset pics from our time in La Manzanilla. And two sisters who are photographers and disdain sunsets as ‘post card art’ 🙂
Okay you’ve convinced me – PV seems like a pretty wonderful place 🙂
Someone once asked me, “Why are you always taking photos of sunsets? It’s the same sun.” To which I replied, “But the effect always are different.” Which is exactly what you’ve so nicely proven here.
Wonderful shots. Our experience of sunsets has always been that the picture doesn’t do them justice – luckily yours more than do!
Very nice, Curt.
The sunset just cries out for anyone’s camera. Everyone wants to figure out a way to keep that glorious image, talented and untalented photographers alike. Your dad probably saw just too many of them, but nonetheless wanted to capture some that struck him for the same reason everyone else reaches for the camera.
I suspect you are right, Bruce. Sunsets provide some of natures most spectacular moments, and their transient, almost Zen-like nature demands focused attention. –Curt
beauteousness!
Nice word there, Cindy. 🙂 –Curt
That IS a nice word! 🙂
Beautiful sunset pictures…
Thanks… hard to take a bad one, Nin. –Curt
Ahhh sunsets. Always an interesting topic in the photographic world – often said to be overdone, or as your Dad so perfectly put, ‘postcard art’. What a great phrase.
This never stops me from taking photos of every single sunset I see. Throw in a few beautiful clouds, as you have captured here, and the beauty is almost overwhelming. I could watch the sunset every single day for the rest of my life and not get sick of them. You have captured a glorious sunset here, Curt and Peggy!
Thanks, Jayde.
What beautiful scenery to shoot!
Yes it is!
These are a delight, I am a perennial sucker for sunsets. Every one is different and amazing. I have even tried photographing a sunset and a sunrise through a plane window taking time lapse pictures – not very successful, but I enjoyed the intensity of the watching.
I’ve photographed sunrises just about every where I have been… but never from airplane window. I do enjoy photography from small panes, though. It was kick flying in a bush plane over the island of Kodiak, (off the coast of Alaska) this past summer and snapping shots of grizzlies. (It was even more fun down on the ground.) –Curt
So beautiful Curt. I can almost hear the surf and feel the breeze. And I do love the crab and iguana perspectives. Like you and your Dad, I can’t resist the “post card art.” ~Terri
Thanks Terri. Half the fun of photography (for me) is shooting from different perspectives. As for sunsets, there is a different photo for the same scene every minute. Thank goodness for digital cameras! 🙂 –Curt
I loved that shot of Cody and Ethan, Curt…and the cloud shot with what appears to be a bird in the center. Very dramatic. And I can’t let Cindy out-do me… Superific!
Thanks Koji. Nice word there. 🙂 –Curt
Curt! all of those photos are so BEAUTIFULLL!
my fav is the first one, palm trees and sunset!