Every Sunset Is Different

By Gloria Mwivanda

Every sunset is different, even though it is the same sun, the same sky, the same earth. If you set out to photograph the sunset every day, there will inevitably be days when you look at the horizon and think, This is exactly like yesterday. You might even feel there is no point in lifting your camera.
It is on those days - especially those days - that you must remember: every sunset is different.

As I travel across the African continent, I notice how easily the mind slips into sameness. Some days the novelty fades, and my eyes begin to flatten the world: the hills blur into familiar curves, the acacia trees repeat themselves, the baobabs stand like old gods I’ve seen before. The red soil, the grey soil,  all of it feels like one endless road. Even faces begin to merge, expressions folding into one impression. The languages sound like broken strands of Swahili my ears cannot quite untangle.
On those days, I remind myself again: every sunset is different.

In Mozambique, the sunset is framed by coconut trees and the Indian Ocean breathing softly in the distance. Voices float in a mix of Portuguese and Tswa. Some evenings the tide retreats, revealing wet sand and scattered shells; other evenings the ocean rises bold and full. But every sunset is different.
It smells different, too, sometimes like raw fish drying in the heat, other times like fresh matapa simmering in a kitchen nearby.
As a photographer, it becomes my responsibility to notice these subtleties, to translate them into images that tell the story of the day that was.

In rural Eswatini, the sunsets are early and brief. They slip behind the hills playing a game of hide and seek; up and down, up and down, peekaboo. They brush the sky with soft hues of pink, orange, and red, as if painted with a delicate feathered stroke.

Even the acacias change. They sway to new winds in rhythms I’ve never seen before. The baobabs remain enchanting; some tall, some short, all generous in form, their thick arms reaching toward the gods.

Clearly, every sunset is different.
And every day I must train my eyes to see those differences, like playing a difficult version of spot the difference, but with the world itself as my puzzle.

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