Sun worshippers chase 'magic moment' 

A half-hour before sunset, Fred Greco of Massapequa sets up his Nikon camera on a tripod next to a dune facing the western sky over Jones Beach's West End.

Greco, 71, a retired private investigator, and four other members of the Long Island Sun Chasers, are aiming to snap sunset photos to awe thousands of Facebook fans. But there are clouds on the horizon, which can make or break a shot.

“We’re hoping the cloud bank doesn’t smother the sunset,” Greco says, adding, “Sometimes the sun’s rays will break out through the openings in the clouds.” 

The sun doesn’t disappoint as it passes through a band of blue on its way to the horizon. 

“Sometimes I just have to stop and take it in,” Greco says before taking a dazzling shot of the sun splashing gold all over the adjacent clouds.

The burst of color also thrills Ines Vieira, 39, of Mineola, who brought her Canon camera to the meetup. Vieira says the club is all about “enjoying the moment and sharing it with the rest of the world.” 

Founded five years ago by six Suffolk County residents, the Long Island Sun Chasers Facebook group currently counts more than 5,000 members. The club’s main focus is to photograph or show appreciation for images of the sun rising and setting from the city to the East End.

“Many of the people are photographers, but a lot of people join Sun Chasers just to look at the photos,” says Jan Shannon, 64, of Bayport. Shannon says, “People who used to live on Long Island get to see sunset through our eyes.”

Paul Peluso, 53, of Center Moriches, says the club, which has no officers and only has informal meetings, has grown “first from word of mouth and friendship, then through Facebook.”

Peluso got the club clicking after he started taking photos of sunrise and crashing waves at Smith Point County Park in Shirley.

“I noticed a little family of red foxes and I started taking pictures of them, and everybody started asking, ‘Where did you see this fox?’” Peluso says. He snapped thousands of photos of the fox he named “Whitefoot,” and her family, and posted them on Facebook.

Nowadays, about 400 members are shooting photos and posting them on the site. They gather year-round in all kinds of weather in groups of up to 25 or more.

Favorite meetup locations include Smith Point, Robert Moses State Park in Babylon and the Fire Island Lighthouse. Sun Chasers also gather at the Field 10 fishing piers at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh.

They usually arrive about a half-hour before sunrise or sunset to set up equipment and chat. Once a month, a post-sunrise potluck tailgate party at one of the parks features cookies, quiche and sunrise shoptalk.

“We hang out and chat about everything under the sun,” says Douglas Kelley, 58, of Medford, a computer service engineer and another of the group's original six members. Kelley, who travels Long Island for business and shoreline photography, says, “It’s been a great adventure with all the cool people I’ve met along they way.”

Charter member Trish Minogue Collins, 56, of Mastic, a teaching assistant at Eastport Elementary School, says sunrise photo sessions have become a habit because she’s a “morning person.” Collins checks online surf cameras to determine the best shooting locations.

“Smith Point is closest to me but if it’s a super calm day I like Narrow Bay or Bellport Bay,” Collins says.

Vinnie Giordano, 50, of Seaford, president of a Long Island-based audiovisual company, likes to take special effects shots such as a “starburst effect, which makes the sun look like a star.” He keeps shooting a half-hour to 45 minutes after sunset, a time he calls “the blue hour when all different colors pop up in the sky.”

In the coming weeks members will also be looking for snowy owls — they winter on Long Island beaches — along with sunrises and sunsets

Says Shannon: “There’s something very special about when the sun peeks over the horizon. It’s a magical moment.”