Summer Moments

A cool breeze wraps around me as I stand barefoot on the soft, cool sand of Huntington Beach. Looking up from my camera, I see that the sun is just about to set—my favorite time to take pictures. My camera is set up on its tripod and I stand behind it, adjusting the settings to ensure that I get the best shot. Closing my eyes, I breathe in the salty summer air before I crouch down to get my first shot lined up.

When it comes to my photography, I can be a bit of a perfectionist. It’s something that I know my fiancé gets a little irritated by sometimes but he has given up on trying to change that about me, either because I’m too stubborn to change, because he can understand what it’s like to be one since he is a musician, or simply because the trait seems to run in my family. One of my uncles is a professional photographer and taught me everything he knows. I grew up watching him take pictures, and that’s probably where my passion for the art began. When I had started to express an interest in photography, he was the one who bought me my first professional camera and even took me out with him on assignments to get in some practice shots.

I smile to myself, the memory fading into the back of my mind, as I take my first shot of the setting sun. Standing here on the beach watching the setting sun reminds me of when I’m standing by the front door of my house, watching my fiancé as he’s about to leave for tour. Just like the sun, he’ll be gone for a little while but I’ll be seeing him again soon. Bursts of warm golden yellow, orange, and red cover the sky as the sun goes on its descent, creating warmth similar to that of a loved one’s embrace.

I take a few more shots of the setting sun before turning my tripod a little to the right. The pier is off in the distance and I know that capturing the pier in the setting sun would look magnificent. Before I can snap my first shot of the pier, I feel two arms snake around my waist, making me jump a little.

“Found you,” his voice whispers into my ear, making my heart beat a little faster.

“You did indeed find me, but I didn’t realize I was lost,” I giggle a little.

I feel him squeeze me tightly, before he turns me around in his arms. I stare up into his beautiful green eyes as a smile graces my lips. I always wonder how I managed to get so lucky in snagging him. I sometimes chalk it up to my fantastic flirting abilities, but then I remember how we really met.

“So, what brings you all the way over here?” he asks me.

“You know how much I love taking pictures of the sun setting,” I tell him.

“That is true. I still don’t understand why though.”

I laugh. “You clearly don’t see the beauty in the sunsets that I see,” I tell him.

He chuckles. “I just see a sun setting into the horizon, but I also see my beautiful fiancée.”

I slap his arm and manage to free myself from his embrace. I turn back towards my camera and realign my shot of the pier. The sun has set further into the horizon, so the bursts of golden yellow, orange and red have turned into faint hues of pink and purple against the sky. I snap a few more shots and then take my camera off the tripod and aim it at my fiancé.

“Now what on earth do you think you’re doing with that?” he asks.

“Well, I figured I could take a shot of us with the sunset in the background since I do have timed
settings on my camera,” I answer.

He smiles at me. “Alright, where do you want me to stand then?”

I grin at him and then instruct him to sand at an angle near where the pier is off in the distance. My hope is to capture the pier behind us as well for an even better shot than just the setting sun. I look down at my camera and fiddle with the timed settings to make sure it’s perfect. Once I’m sure the settings are correct, I place the camera back on the tripod and then quickly make my way over to my fiancé. He immediately wraps his arm around me and pulls me in close to him. I listen closely for the shutter to go off and when it does in a series of quick successions, I start to pull away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asks pulling me back towards him.

I giggle. “To set the timer again, silly. I want to do more pictures, but this time more than just us standing here in one place,” I tell him.

He nods his head and lets me go. I walk back to my camera and set the timer again and then head back over to him. Before I can stand close to him again he picks me up in his arms and I squeal.

“Zacky, what the hell?” I laugh as I look down at him. He looks up at me with a wide smile.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

I punch his shoulder and he places me back down on the soft sand. I walk around to stand behind him and he turns his head towards me. I only have to smile at him for him to know that I want him to kneel down in front me. Once he does, I wrap my arms around his neck and hop onto his back. In one swift movement, he stands up to his full height again, with me hanging on. The camera shutter starts to go off and I tell Zacky to run around in circles. Being the dork that he is, he complies, but with his arms out and making airplane noises. I laugh as I try to hang out tightly to him, so I don’t fall off. Finally, he stands in still in front of the camera just as it’s about to stop taking pictures and I steal a kiss to his lips.

After the camera is done, Zacky drops to his knees and I slide off his back. He wraps his arm back around me and pulls me to the front and I land on my back as I look up at him.

“Stop trying to be a naughty boy on the beach,” I tease him.

He leans down and kisses me on the lips before pulling me to my feet. I walk over to the tripod and he follows me. Together we huddle around the camera and listen to the waves of the ocean crash against the shore. I turn off the timer on my camera and then go through all the shots. Some of them don’t even have us in them, since Zacky was being such a dork and acting like a human airplane, but the ones the camera managed to get of us turned out amazing.

I look up at him and smile and he returns the smile as he wraps his arm around me, gently bumping
the tripod enough to make it shake slightly.

“Be careful, babe, you know how much I cherish my equipment.”

“Sorry, it was an accident.”

I nod my head in understanding. Once I finish going through all my photos, I turn off the camera and walk over to the bag I brought with me. I gently place the camera inside making sure no sand had gotten in and then close it. Walking back towards the tripod, I see Zacky fiddling with it. I walk up towards him and then lean in, so our heads are touching.

“Having fun?” I question.

“Of course,” he says, stealing another kiss.

I take down the tripod and place it back with my other equipment before turning back towards Zacky.

“So, ready to go home now?”

“Maybe. Or maybe, I’d rather just hang out with you on the beach for a while longer. After all, I haven’t seen you all day,” he says, pulling me towards him.

I wrap my arms around his neck and stand up on my toes in order to reach his lips. “Sounds good, but don’t even try to be naughty,” I warn him.

He laughs before walking off. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. Just going to get a blanket from the car.”

“Do you mind putting my equipment in the trunk?”

“Not all.”

I watch him walk away before turning my attention to the last of the setting sun. The temperature makes a sudden drop once the last of the sun’s rays drop below the horizon. It’s not long, before Zacky returns with two blankets. He lays one down on the sand and then wraps the other one around his shoulders before sitting down. I sit down between his legs and he wraps his arms around me to
keep me warm.

“Much better, it was getting chilly,” I tell him.

“Well, I’m glad I could be your savior.”

“You’ve always been my savior,” I say.

He kisses my cheek and I lean back into him and rest my head against his shoulder. Times like these are few and far between, but I know that every time we get to have these moments it’s very relaxing.

“So, looking forward to going back on the road?” I ask him.

“No, not really.”

“Why not?”

“Because you won’t be there with me, duh.”

I giggle. “You know I’ll come visit when I can.”

“I know. I just wish you could be tacked onto our team and be our professional photographer, and not everyone else’s.”

“You know how badly that could turn out though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d be too focused on taking pictures of you and none of anyone else. Management wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“I would,” he whispers against my ear.

I smack him again and he chuckles, the sound echoing through his chest like a small rumble. His arms tighten around me and I snuggle closer. I probably wouldn’t just focus on him if I were to be able to take pictures of his band live, but the magazine I work for hasn’t given me an assignment that involves me traveling to their shows. And even if the assignment was to take pictures of them, it wouldn’t be all the shows, but only one or two.

“You ready to go home?”

I look up at him and smile. “Yeah, it’s getting too cold now, but thank you for watching the rest of the sunset with me.”

“Hey, you know how much I love sunsets,” he says.

I nod my head. “It’s one of the many things that brought us together.”

He helps me stand up and then wraps the blanket that was around his shoulders around mine. He grabs the other one and shakes off the sand before folding it neatly and then taking my hand in his and squeezes tightly. “Damn straight,” he finally says as we walk towards the car to leave.