Another Beach Sunset in Hawaiʻi

Colorful Evening

When we were in Kauaʻi for our 25th anniversary trip, we discovered that there was no shortage of good sunsets. That is a good thing because we love nice sunsets. We kept running into them most every day we were there, and we were excited when we would have the chance to photograph one. There is something special about a Hawaiʻi sunset that makes it much different from our sunsets back here at home in Tennessee. I think it is the beach, but I might be wrong about that.

On this particular evening, we were on the rocks overlooking Shipwreck Beach and the Grand Hyatt Resort (where we were staying). There had been lots of clouds in the sky on and off for the day, although we did have some good sun when we visited Poʻipū Beach earlier in the afternoon. The clouds came back pretty strong after that, but as you can see they were just starting to depart as the sun was going down.

We had hiked up on those rocks just for the purpose of seeing the sunset, or at least seeing a cool sky as the sun was setting, and we were not disappointed. Everything was so colorful, from the blue to yellow gradient of the sky, to the purple clouds with an orange cloud here and there, to the blue of the water down below. It was as if God had used the full box of crayons for this one, holding nothing back. It was wonderful.

Incidentally, if this photo looks familiar, a version of it first appeared in Part 8 of the 2018 Kauaʻi Trip Report. But there were a few spots in the photo that I was not happy with originally, so I went back and redid them here. And besides, I felt like this photo deserved to be featured in a post of its own. So here it is.

Love

Up in one of the earlier paragraphs, I mentioned that we love nice sunsets. And “love " is a word that we sometimes throw around for different things. You can love sunsets, and you can love people, and those two uses of the same word mean very different things. Here is an example of love that I saw the other day.

We were having some small group meetings at our church, with different groups using different rooms in the building for our various meetings, and each of these meetings included a fellowship meal. Because eating together is a sign of a strong church family.

After the meals were over, we all cleaned up after ourselves, to make it easier on the cleaning folks for the church building. For our meeting, we had brought some serving spoons from home. But I did not want to take them back home dirty, so I went to the kitchen to wash them off.

When I got there, one of the ladies of the congregation was there, just starting to wash dishes. I was going to wait patiently until she was finished, because it did not look like she had many things to wash.

But then she said, “Just put your spoons in here with these, and I will wash them for you.” That was completely unexpected. I had not asked her to do it. I was not tapping my foot or looking at my watch. I don’t think I made any kind of facial expression to show any kind of displeasure, because I did not mind at all waiting my turn.

But this sweet lady took my spoons and washed them. Not only that, but she washed them first, ahead of what she was going to wash. I thanked her many times over, because that was not something that she had to do at all. But she did it because she wanted to. And I was thankful for her love and generosity.

Sometimes love can be something really big. But then sometimes love can be something small, like washing someone else’s spoons.

Wouldn’t the world be a much better place if we all looked for little ways to love each other? Let’s give it a try.

Bible Verse

Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action. - 1 John 3:18

About the Photo

As I mentioned above, I originally worked on this photo for Part 8 of the trip report. I spent a little time making it look good in Photoshop, but I never was quite happy with it. But I had a (self-imposed) deadline to meet, so I went with it. After that deadline had passed, I took a little more time to go back and correct the parts that I did not like. I won’t bother telling you what those parts are. They really are not noticeable anyway. And I know I am often my worst critic. But I am much happier with this version. It makes me want to go back and look for even more sunsets.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: July 7, 2018
Location: Shipwreck Beach, Poʻipū, Hawaiʻi