Lights, Cameras, and Sketchbooks. At Staples.

I had about 30 minutes yesterday to sketch something. So I parked behind Staples, it was the first place I saw. The sun was going down. I knew from last time I was around here at the same time that the lighting changes completely within minutes. So I took these two pictures to share on here (I didn't use any of these for the sketch though). 

I took this right before I started sketching. I noticed everything but the sky (and that tiny light) was like a giant dark mass.

I took this one right before I left. Everything had shifted.
Now the sky, ground and buildings had all gone dark together. While that light in the foreground kept appearing lighter and lighter. 

So basically the whole thing had shifted from light in the background, to light in the foreground within 30 minutes.

 In my sketch I tried to meet right in the middle. That weird moment with the last of the sunlight fading, and the power of artificial lights taking over. In the 30 minutes I had, I think I spent about 25 on the pencil drawing. By the time I was finished with that I could hardly see anything. Both inside my car and outside. And I had to go. Next time I'll try to get the drawing done early so I can focus on everything else while it happens.