I love photography and I love sunsets. This spring I got the great idea to combine the two and document the sunsets from the same spot on the first days of spring, summer, fall, and winter to see how the sun moves throughout the year. You may be wondering “Why?,” but it sounded cool to me.

We live half a mile from a public beach on the east side of a large lake – a perfect place to set up a tripod and take a sunset picture from the exact same spot for all four seasons. It’s also a great spot to just sit and visit with friends.

Two of my friends decided to join me, not so much because what I was doing excited them but just because they are my friends. Sitting on the beach watching the first summer sunset and chatting with each other while I basically ignored them (sorry, ladies!) sounded good to them.

They sat on the sand to relax and I set up my equipment, including a new wide-angle lens I wanted to try out. I found a place that I could find again for the rest of the seasons and, with the wide angle, I could capture the sun as far north as it sets in June and as far south as it sets in December.

I took a variety of pictures from the tripod on the beach and then decided to walk to the end of the dock and take some from there. When I was finished, I turned around to walk down the dock back to the beach and saw this – and quite frankly it was as touching as the sunset.

I saw two women who cared about me and supported me enough to join me on a mission I really could have done alone. Maybe it would have been kinder of me to not invite them to something I could have done on my own. But when I told them what I wanted to do and asked if they wanted to come along, they both instantly said, “Sure!”

The next morning, I received two texts, one from each friend separately. This is what they sent me:

What? They took pictures of me? Wow, I was not expecting that. And I felt even more loved!

The sunset picture showed me God’s beauty.

But I think maybe the pictures of friendship expressed it even more.