Since our final section is titled “Surfing on Sunshine,” I wanted right from the start to do the DS106 assignment A Sunset–the prompt for which asks–

Take a picture of a beautiful sunset. Nothing fancy, just a nice picture

In order for my assignment to make any sense though, there’s a bit of explaining I should do. One of my favorite books of all time is a French children’s book, “Le Petit Prince” (“The Little Prince”; ??????. There is a part in the story where the little Prince becomes sad, and asks Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author, if they can go see a sunset. It turns out that the Little Prince comes from a planet that is so small that in order to see a sunset, all he has to do is walk for a few moments to the other side of his planet–so he can see a sunset anytime he feels like it. The Little Prince says,

“Un jour, j’ai vu le soleil se coucher quarante-trois fois!”
Et un peu plus tard tu ajoutais:
“Tu sais… quand on est tellement triste on aime les couchers de soleil…”

(Or, in the English version…)

“One day,” you said to me, “I saw the sunset forty-four times!”
And a little later you added:

“You know–one loves the sunset, when one is so sad . . .”

*this picture is taken from the The Little Prince, and does not belong to me.

Ever since reading this book, I always want to see sunsets when I am sad. And that is where I am going with all of this–my latest DS 106 assignment. Although I am generally a happy person,  something happened last week that made me extraordinarily sad, and I thought of The Little Prince. Looking through pictures that I had taken during a trip with a friend, I found myself wishing that they were  all sunset pictures. Then I began searching through all of the pictures on my computer, and couldn’t find a single one in which I had captured a sunset–so I decided to make one. Thinking of The Little Prince, I wanted it to be a bit childish–not an oil-painting sunset, but a child-who-doesn’t-know-how-to-use-fancy-computer-editing-programs kind of painting.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am thankful for this class after all, because to me “Surfing on Sunshine” is freedom. And freedom is here after all–the ability to express myself in ways I wasn’t able to before. On a blog. In photoshop. And on DS106 too.

Ok I think sunrise is okay for this assignment “sunset”, I don’t think I can tell the difference between sunset and sunrise…. Just the direction of sun…

Process: Be in the right location, choose a nice angle and take the photo!
Story: I was heading Yokosuka base at around 7:00 am… When I was walking through the park near the base, I was totally touched beyond words. I saw the gorgeous scene, the breeze was blowing me with its ocean smell while hearing the horn(s) from the ships (or sub?)… That is why I took the picture, but the moment is way way more better than a photo… These ships and submarine should be Japanese Self Defense Force’s, the JSDF base is connected to the US Yokosuka naval base. Yokosuka is a beautiful city, you can see the seaside and mountains at the same time…

THE ASSIGNMENT:  This assignment was to take a picture of a sunset.

THE PROCESS:  I decided to use one of the pictures that I’ve previously taken of a sunset, and then uploaded it to my WordPress page.  I then explained why I chose this picture, and the significance that this picture had on my life.

THE STORY:  This is my all-time favorite picture of a sunset.  It was taken in 2007, during the time that I’ve spent in Iraq.  Many days while in Iraq were spent constantly working with little rest, and little time to relax.  Stress began to build up over the months, and there was little that one could do in order to release that stress.  I began to take pleasure in the “little things” in life that many take for granted.   This picture for example, is one of those “little things” in life that helped me to relieve stress and relax a little bit.  In my opinion,  Iraq had some of the most beautiful sunsets that I’ve ever seen in my life.  There was rarely any cloud coverage, so when the sun rose and set, it would cause the sky to light up in various colors that would stretch out in the sky as far as the eye could see.  This picture is actually not a very good example of what I am talking about, however, it was chosen because of the way the sun is hitting the palm trees in the background.  I hope you enjoy this picture as much as I do.

Original assignment

I chose the ds106 assignment, A Sunset. It says “Take a picture of a beautiful sunset. Nothing fancy, just a nice picture “.

 I took the photo around 5:00 pm. And when I play the futsal with my friend at park, I saw the such a beutifu landscape, and at that time I remember this assignment, so I took it. Even though we watch the sun, sunrise or sunset, I think we do not watch carefully. And I forgot where the phrase come from, but it said people forget natural beuty is equal to world beuty. I strongly agree with the phrase. I recomend this assignment because we can focus on passing the time.