Last Rays....

As the sun approaches the winter solstice, its arc getting ever lower each day, the quality of light gets finer and finer.  About two years ago I started carrying a pocket camera. Since my preferred mode of dress on a typical day is a pair of overalls over a flannel shirt, I have a perfect pocket on the bib in which a small camera is right at home.  I started out with a Canon SD1100 IS, an 8 megapixel with all the necessary features to make grab-shot photos easy and of a quality that is very useful. 

Somehow, on a recent trip to Colorado, that little camera and I parted ways.  I hope whoever found it gets as much service out of it as I did. I replaced it with a Panasonic Lumix FH-20, which, at 14 mpxls and with an 8X optical zoom lens, is an even more capable camera.  It almost doesn't matter what pocket camera you choose, there are very few bad ones out there in a market that is so competitive that incompetent products don't last very long and manufacturers know that their reputation is always on the line.  The key is to have a camera WITH YOU at all times. 

Below is a shot of a local farm, taken in the last few moments before the sun dove below the horizon.  I was able to pull off the road, jump out and capture about six images before the sun was gone.  For me, what is most enjoyable about this image and all pix of this type, is how radically the yellow-rose sunlight transforms the buildings.  If you look at the various areas of them you will see colors ranging from a very warm, almost Naples Yellow Pale, to pinks, mauves and even distinctly violet shades where the shadows fall.  The multiple surfaces all catch the light in unique ways and reflect colors differently. If I decide to use this image as a reference for a painting, the test will be to not over exaggerate the colors.  They are already very saturated and to take them much further would run the risk of stepping across the line into garishness.  Light as it naturally occurrs is almost always about as good as it gets.

This image could be made very easily by anybody with a camera.  There is absolutely nothing about it that required any skill......other than the obvious one:  SEEING THE LIGHT.