Week 1 - Of Smokescreens and Sunsets
Sunsets trigger a Pavlovian response for me. I am overcome with bittersweet nostalgia for warm San Diego evenings, moisture hanging in the air and paragliders silhouetted against the horizon. I used to watch the sunset every day, and I developed a keen sense of how "good" the sunset was going to be depending on the density and quality of the clouds earlier that day. No clouds and full clouds both made for rather boring sunsets, but those few skies with streaky wisps of cirrus lent themselves to miracles. Explosions of rose and scarlet and lavender and indigo, dancing through the skies like sinuous watercolor.
I used to think I could judge the clouds so well - until I discovered smoke. Like a literal smokescreen, the California wildfires have completely changed my perception of sunlight. This photograph was taken at around 5pm last week, well before dusk, yet the low air quality leads to shockingly beautiful, sunset-like light quality. The rays of golden hour (or golden three hours) permeated my window, and I enjoyed it the same way I enjoy sunsets. It was meditative, yet terrifying, yet beautiful.
-Jeevika
It is amazing how beautiful it can be up against the tragedy of the fires - I remember an amazing day many years back when we had a lot of fired in Orange County and how the entire quality of light changes throughout the day. Nice post!
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