Evening on the Boardwalk

Finding Peace, With or Without a Crowd

Asbury Park's boardwalk becomes a different place at the end of the day. Usually there are fewer people, and the light is softer. The world is suggesting to us, by reducing the intensity of our environment, that it might be time to reduce our internal intensity. 

There are also special gifts, like the eastern sky in the picture above. This display is known as the Belt of Venus. It doesn't happen every night, but it's worth keeping an eye out for it. 

Sunsets in Asbury Park can be quite intense, and I love those too. But the quiet pastels of the Belt of Venus have a special place in my heart. 

At what time does the evening begin? I find that's a tricky question. Back when I was working, my evening began at 5 o'clock. Not that my work necessarily stopped at 5, but the gears inside my head definitely shifted. 

Astronomers seem to prefer the term twilight, which itself has a number of different definitions - civil, nautical, astronomical. Evening, on the other hand, seems entirely up for grabs.

I've decided it's a conversation between my external world and my internal life.

The position of the sun is important, of course, but again there is flexibility. The photo above was taken about 6 pm last October. The photo below (taken from a rooftop restaurant, by the way) is from last July, at 7 pm. For me, both of these are evening.

Again, I think it's the softness of the light that makes it evening. 

Eventually, of course, the sun goes down, and a little later we get to something called last light. Then the sky finally gives up being blue and becomes black velvet. But I would argue that, even then, evening can continue.

This can be assisted, as the natural light fades, by the deft addition of artificial light. The key here is to mix and balance the various light sources to provide a gentle, pleasing illumination. Below is, I think, a good example of doing it right. 

So when is evening? It's when your world and your mind agree that you are in the evening. 

See also Lighting Rittenhouse, City of Lights, Umbrellaville, Night Lights at Coney Island, Painting with Light.