Friday, January 7, 2011

The Most Beautiful Thing in Nature

Think about it. To you, what is the most beautiful thing in nature? I got my favorite thing; it’s blazed in my mind, and it’s nothing more than a shadow, a really, really big one.  It’s the shadow of the Earth, and most people don’t even realize it is there.  In the early morning or late evening, it is only natural to turn toward the sun to watch it rise or set.  What I’m talking about is in the opposite direction, 180 degrees away from the rising or setting sun.




As the sun sets, the shadow of the Earth literally gets projected into the sky.  When the sun is low, its rays penetrate much more atmosphere; light gets bent, reflected and scattered into an otherworldly band of colors that change very quickly.  This is the most beautiful thing in nature.

There is another great thing about the Earth’s shadow:  It’s ubiquitous – As long as you are in a place where the sun rises and sets, it has the potential to appear twice.  Each and every day.  The images here were taken from California, Ohio, Ontario, Washington and Wyoming.  Notice the similar colors regardless of location:

Barn on Thorpe Road, Auburn, Ohio


Caribou River, Northern Ontario


Snake River Overlook, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The intensity depends on geography, your position on the Earth and a variety of atmospheric conditions.  One of the fascinating aspects to this shadow is how quickly the colors change.  In the 1954 book, The Nature of Light & Colour in the Open Air by M. Minnaert, there is a great description of twilight and the propagation of the colors associated with the Earth’s shadow.  The image below shows the classic distribution:  grey-blue, pink, light white-blue then back to blue.

Galen's Tree, Skyline Drive, Berkeley, California 

The next image was taken from high up on Mt. Rainier.  Rainier rises 10,000 feet above the immediate surrounding landscape, which is the same amount Everest rises above its surrounding landscape.  At sunset, you can see the shadow of Mt. Rainier projected onto the horizon.  Talk about a humbling experience…



You should check this out yourself.  Take a morning or evening and dedicate an hour to looking the other way; away from the sun when it rises or sets.  You need a relatively clear sky, especially where the sun is.  For an added treat, time it when there is a full moon.  A full moon rises and sets with the Earth’s shadow.   Get to your favorite spot with a view about ½ hour before the sunrise or sunset, sit back and enjoy the view.

Dave
www.davechewphotography.com

Dry Valley Road, Antioch, California


Monday, January 3, 2011

Tennessee Christmas

As usual, we went to Tennessee for Christmas to visit family in Cookeville. We were treated with a rare White Christmas (the tenth on record). Needless to say I was itching to take some photos.  Up on the top of Buck Mountain it was snowing but foggy.  Normally that makes for some great photo opportunities, but for some reason I just wasn't connecting.  Below are a few images from Christmas morning:





The highlight for photography was the following day, when Brian took me to his Great Aunt Opel's home. We spent several hours exploring and photographing the landscape, especially some of the structures and old equipment. It was a great experience. 







From there we went Southeast to Gatlinburg, where they too had a rare snow, over a foot in some areas.  Although travel was restricted at certain times, we did manage to travel Little River Road between Gatlinburg and Cades Cove.  A few images from there: