Sunrise, Sunset, Somewhere By Photographer and Contributor Don Hurzeler
As a guy who grew up in Palos Verdes Estates, I have always loved sunrise and sunsets. PV gets the best. Well...maybe not in May and June...those tend to be monochromatic. But the rest of the year, they can be out of this world...and I have seen the world.
My favorite place to photograph sunsets, at the end of the cul-de-sac on Punta Place, directly above Bluff Cove (the local residents there will hate me for this mention). Sunrise in PV can be interesting, but I count on that location for great sunsets...and it rarely disappoints.
I have three other favorite places to shoot sunsets and sunrise...Hawaii, where I now live in Kailua-Kona, Isla Mujeres, Mexico and anywhere in Tanzania. Each one is different. Each one unique.
In Hawaii I like to be where the ocean waves are crashing or up at 10,000 feet or so on Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa. In Isla Mujeres, I like to be on the beach facing Cancun. Tanzania...just about anywhere will do...but the sunrise and sunset colors there last just a few brilliant minutes. Oh...and in Africa, stay in the Land Rover to get your shot...I've been surprised by lions and other creatures as the sun goes low...not worth the risk to get out into the beautiful landscape.
And here is a tip that will pay off big time...when the sun hits the horizon in the morning, pack up and go home...it will not get better. When the sun hits the horizon at night...don't be so quick to leave. I have gotten some of my best sunset photos after everyone else gave up and went home. In Hawaii and California, that extended sunset time is often up to thirty minutes.
I remember the old version of the Daily Show with its moment of zen at the end. Sunrise and sunset...there are my moment of zen...or at least a moment of peace and beauty. Thanks for letting me share a few of my images with you.
Don and Linda are “lucky to live Hawaii” for the past fourteen year and claims to have never experienced an unhappy day on the island.
However, he does admit that he thinks of PV often…as it stands today and as it was. And what he misses most from those early days on the hill are growing up with a great set of friends and neighbors and the unimaginable freedom enjoyed in those days. He claims that he was raised like a free range chicken, able to hitch hike to get around town, to go out in surf that would scare any parent and to carry around a bow and arrow or small caliber gun to protect himself from rattle snakes when he hiked the canyons…not as a highly trained, accredited, licensed gun owner…but as a 12 year old kid whose dad treated guns like tools…there for protection and to be treated with respect and care.
And the best part of his freedom, no cell phones. Don was basically on his own and no one could track him or reach him until he decided to come home. Don always knew when dinner was served and he made sure to sneak in the door a few minutes prior. And, get this, dinner always included beer for Don…from about age 9 on. Or a milkshake made using 31 Flavors Baskin and Robbins ice cream from the Hollywood Rivera store mixed with crème de menthe. His dad felt the alcohol would whet Don’s appetite and help him grow from the skinny kid he was in those days. That did not work, but it did make him (temporarily) unafraid of orcas.
You can catch up with Don Hurzeler on Facebook. He is also on Instagram @donhurzeler. His book writing website is donhurzeler.com and his photography website is lavalightgalleries.com.
For a kid who grew up on the mean streets of Palos Verdes Estates, parented in a way that would land everyone in jail today, but supported, coached and loved…Don came out alright. A PV boy who fully understands how lucky he was that his parents built their dream home on a hill with a million lights sparkling below…or a fog bank a thousand feet thick.
