October 16, 2010

Photo of the Week: Oct. 15, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I admit it: I remain a sucker for sunsets. And sunrises, when I can beat dawn out the door. Observing the spectacle of changing light and color – especially in the mysterious world of heaven above – makes me pause and marvel at creation. Yet these break of day/end of day shots can often disappoint because we witness them as a process. Although I strive for the absolute peak moment in every shot, extracting but an instant in time from a glorious sky show frequently leaves me unfulfilled. Now I cannot imagine watching a videotape of a sunrise as a way to relive the complete experience, but it does help when we return later to look at the photograph, to complement our visual memory with a bit of introspection prompted by the moment.

This is a winter sunrise near Eilat, looking east over the Eilat Mountains and Jordan. The light show is adorned with a sliver of waning moon in the upper right hand corner. To keep the colors at their richest, it is important to set the exposure for the sky, which means the mountains, with no light hitting them from the direction of the camera, will turn to silhouette. I kept the mountains in the image to a minimum, because they are so easily identifiable as mountains and because their jagged summits add further drama to the wispy clouds catching the first light of day. May we awaken each day to the beauty and blessings that surround us.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-300, 18-200 zoom at 31mm, f11 at 1/60 sec., ISO 400.

No comments: