4 December 2014

Four elements

Fire. The sun’s dying red light suddenly surged from behind the mountains. Its fire blanketed everything in an instant.

Earth. The mountains, so impressive during the day, retreated in a distant black curve along the horizon. They could no longer obstruct the incandescent glow.

Air. Clouds set ablaze but the air didn’t fill up with smoke. It remained cold, pure, silent.

Water. The lake, its surface ruffled by thunderous waves the day bygone, remained calm as if dumbstruck by such beauty. It could do nothing but reflect the skies.

Sunset at Lake Tahoe, California

I seldom share only one picture at a time. Not that one picture wouldn’t be enough but it’s often difficult for me to pick only one, or illustrate my stories with anything less than a few images. I also have so many (wonderful, of course!) photos that I would need multiple lives to be able to share them all, even if I posted one every single day (I do however have a few clones to help me – recurrent joke of mine...).

For this picture taken at Lake Tahoe in northern California, I had voluntarily selected a low ISO value to keep the dark ambiance of the falling night, and had no need to apply any post-processing. The atmosphere truly was this red. I was really impressed and you could hear me repeat out loud those dullish words multiple times: “it’s incredible, it’s so pretty”. It felt surreal, it felt warm, it felt good – an instant of rare tranquillity offered to the turmoil in my mind –, it felt so special I didn’t want the sunset to ever end. But it did.

PS: still haven't had enough of sunset photos? Check out my other ones taken in: