MY LIFE AS ART

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BY PETER SOLIS NERY
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The sunset tracker

I WAS ONLY half-serious when I made a New Year’s resolution to cover all the 365 sunsets of 2017, and post them on my Instagram account (@petersolisnery). Go check, and follow me!

I started my Instagram account on Nov. 18, 2015. My initial posts were life lessons and philosophies that I normally dispense as a life coach.

Then, after about a week of that, on Nov. 24, I posted my first erotic haiku. The haiku series enjoyed a good season.


But I realized that Instagram is really a platform for photographic posts. So, I started posting food photos, as if I were an advertising guy working on food commercials. It, too, had its run.

Then, after a year of Instagram, right around Christmas 2016, I wondered about what could be a good Instagram project for me that people can follow. But I could not think of anything.

I woke up with a hangover on New Year’s Day. I got up late. So, I missed the sunrise. And right then, and there, I decided, I should get the first sunset of 2017.


January 1st had a great sunset in Dumangas. Glorious colors. So, I decided to post it on Instagram, and made sunset tracking my new year’s resolution. Daily sunset was going to be my Instagram project for 2017.

January 2nd didn’t disappoint. It was a pretty sunset, and it kept me ecstatic about my sunset tracking project.
January 3rd was disappointing. I was in Jamindan, Capiz and it was raining. No glorious sunset, just dark cloudy sky. Right there and then, I started questioning.

If it is raining, if the sky is bleak and dreary, can you also call that a sunset?


What’s a sunset? Is it not the time in the evening when the sun disappears, or daylight fades? Is it not the colors and light visible in the sky on the occasion of the sun’s disappearance in the evening?
My logical mind insisted: The sun rises everyday, whether we see it or not. (The planet Earth continues to rotate on its axis!) If the sun rises, it must also set, whether we see it or not. So, there is a daily sunset!
Additional proof: weather forecasts have sunrise and sunset times!


I thought to myself: If I take a picture of the sky around the published sunset time, that’s a sunset photo enough for me. I don’t have to convince other people. I am doing this firstly for myself.

If other people appreciate my work and commitment to track all the 365 sunsets of 2017, that’s well and good. It is not my fault that there are no glorious colors and beautiful cloud formations on certain days.

And thus, I have contented myself with shooting black skies on rainy and stormy days.


What started as a half-serious joke on Instagram has become a spiritual thing for me after about three months of chasing sunsets. Let me explain.

I’m a pretty busy person. Despite being retired, I keep myself busy. I keep long nights, and I wake up late in the day. Usually 10 a.m.or 11 a.m.

Then, I start working around 2 or 3 pm. If the writer mode kicks in, I could be glued to my computer or laptop for hours. And so, I look forward to taking a break for my sunset photo.

My sunset photography can be ten minutes before, and after, the announced sunset time. Or it could be a brief 30-second point-and-shoot with my iPhone.

If the sky is exciting, and there are great clouds and colors, I take as many photos from ten minutes before, and ten minutes after, the official sunset time. Then, I take another five or ten minutes to select the best sunset photo of the day.
If it is raining or snowing, and the sky promises no great changes, why even suffer in the cold, right? I take my one shot, and get back in the house, or wherever I am warm and dry.


The fact that I drop everything that I do for my sunset photo time is a spiritual thing. Like a prayer. For 20 minutes or so, I get in touch with nature, and the sky, and God.

While tracking my sunset, I say my grateful prayers, and I pray a lot for my family, and friends in need of blessings.
Indeed, my sunset picture-taking time is my special time with God. I would even think it more special than my wake up and goodnight prayers.

Today, the ritual has become prayer itself. When I take a moment to take that sunset photo, even if it is just 30 seconds, it is automatic prayer for me. It is thinking, and thanking, God with a click of the iPhone camera.
That’s my “iPhone prayer” if you will, but prayer just the same. And don’t you dare question my manner of prayer and workship!


I have added a new meaning to the social media responsibility reminder “Think before you post”. With my sunset tracking project on Instagram, it is more like “Pray before you post” for me. And I really like that.

A grateful prayer for a wonderful day. A serenity prayer for accepting the dark clouds that I cannot change or move.

On days when I do not see the glorious face of God in the sky, I am reminded that God is there behind the dark clouds of night. That not all days are going to be cheery and bright. That life can get stormy and dark. But it is all the more reason to hold on.

All the more reason to hope for a better day. To hope for a glorious sunset coming tomorrow. It keeps me alive. Hope is a wonderful thing.


I’ve never really felt far apart from God in all my life.
I mean, sure, when I was young, and Catholic guilt was drilled on me, I really felt I was a sinful boy. But once I learned more about how God loves me despite my weaknesses, I have never really felt apart from God.

I’m a God-loving person. And I’m not afraid to bear witness to the great graces that God has showered me. I appreciate God’s love for me. And I sometimes feel that I can love others, too, in the way God loves me.

I do not consider myself religious. But I know a lot about religion. The Roman Catholic religion, and all the other religions of the world.

I consider myself spiritual. And also spirituel. How can I not? I am loved by God! (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
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