“As the day fades to memory, the final moments are often the most glorious. Light and dark intermingle and colours deepen before fading to blue and muted orange, and finally, darkness. Leaving only the memory of a glorious summer day.” – Ed Lehming

This will be my final image in this series. Fittingly, it is an image of the final moments of sunlight playing in the tall pines. It has been a joy recalling these moments in photos and appreciating the subtle elements that made it so wonderful and unique.

As I was editing this image I realized that the sun was, in fact, behind me, lighting up the trees. Yet, as the sunlight faded more and more, there was still a bright glow behind the trees. Then I recalled that there has a tall thunderhead in the distance that I had observed just as I was heading on the road. I really wanted to get a good shot of it, but the correct angle and composition never presented itself, so I reigned myself to the fact that I would not be able to photograph it effectively.

So, here I am looking at this image only to realize that the very cloud that had eluded me earlier was an integral part of this image, reflecting the sunlight from behind the trees. It was that reflected light that kept the scene bright for just a bit longer, finally fading as well as the sun dropped behind the hills, plunging the forest into darkness. I did not realize till I was reviewing this image, that the same cloud also created the bright orange light in my “Between” image, though you can’t see the cloud’s structure within the brightness.

This has been en enjoyable series of image to create and review and, as I mentioned in a previous post, it was also a return to more creative in-camera photography, something that I have not been inspired to do for a while, but hopefully, will take up again. The same can be said for my blogging, which I have done very infrequently lately. I hope you enjoyed this revival with me.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 70 mm
1/4 sec, f/29, ISO 320