No worries about the parking lot, Marisa. Sometimes in heavily populated areas it's hard to find a scene without the marks of humans. You're absolutely right about the short life of sunsets (and sunrises), and that's the full amount from the very beginning to the very last bit of color, the truly photograph-worthy portion often being the 30 seconds in the middle of the 15 minutes. It is a cool shot, young lady, and I don't even mind the specific-axis lens flare; it makes it look like we're being invaded from stellar interlopers. When you get lines like this (and not the stars that come from certain lens irises), all running the same direction, it's from an attempt to erase skin oils from the front glass on your camera lens. As diligent as the photographer may think they are, skin oils are very determined in hanging on. Personally, I use Zeiss lens cleaning wipes to clean my glass. They're smooth and will never scratch the lens with debris that floats in on a draft of air. The alcohol in the wipes is strong enough to eat through any skin oil but evaporates quickly. If the Zeiss pads are out of budget, then Isopropyl or Purosol can be used for both the front and back glass. Of course, when using DSLR's, I cannot recommend enough the practice of putting an inexpensive UV Haze filter on every lens you own; if the cleanig solution does have an adverse effect on the glass or a rock or low-flying alligator hits the front of the camera, the screw-on filter may break but at least it will have protected the more expensive lens glass. UV Haze filters are much more economical to replace than a new lens. Just a few thoughts.

Happy Trails

-Nik