Another Sunset Picture

 

     Today is the first day this week that I didn't wake up in the fog of a migraine. I started having these blinding headaches when I was about 11. My first memory of one is from the fifth grade, when I was struggling to finish a report on the presidents, and it hurt so bad to open my eyes, that I was in tears through most of the night. As I've gotten older, I've learned to watch for triggers. Changes in weather are the worst. An approaching low pressure system, or an established high pressure will do it. Most of the drugs that can help also dull me to the point of being useless anyway.

    I'm not telling this to whine, it actually leads to an interesting story. It seems quite few creative types historically suffered from these things; Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carrol, and Van Gogh, to name a few. Not to compare myself to those guys artistically, but if I had to give up this crazy personality I've come to enjoy, in order to prevent the headaches, I don't think I'd trade. Ms. Dickinson actually produced most of her work just on the trailing edge of the worst part of the headaches.

    In researching this crazy migraine phenomenon, I stumbled on this organization out of D.C. that promotes research and advocates for the rights of sufferers. I don't remember the name of the group right off, and it's not important to the telling of the story anyway. the founder is , get this, a photographer. He also happens to have been a member of the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, one of my favorite places in the world. Small world. While I'm not a huge fan of his photography, he has been very successful with it. He has placed it in numerous collections in the D.C. area, and been in many juried museum exhibits throughout the world. I never really developed a taste for Dickinsosn's poetry either, something about the rhythm, I think.

    Anyway, about the picture. Sunsets are, by nature, difficult to photograph. It's even harder to photograph them well. I've shot literally thousands of frames of sunrises and sunsets, and have yet to capture one that is as beautiful as the moment was in real life. I don't usually share the images because of that. They just don't measure up to the test of evoking some emotional response. I shared this one today because of the moment, not really the photo itself. This sunset was from our recent Oak Island trip, and was a really great ending to a beautiful day, which is what each sunset should be, everyday.