Treebeard's Stumper 8 February 2002

The Perfect Light

I've been driving scenic Highway 154 between school and my home on San Marcos Pass for many years. Even after decades, I sometimes have to pull over because the light is so beautiful. It's like seeing these familiar mountains for the first time. They get a self-luminous quality that's hard to describe, but I'm sure you know what I mean. Sometimes I manage to get a photo, so I know it's a real effect that can be captured and shared. What is it about the perfect light that can transform a familiar landscape into something wonderful and strange?

Here are a few recent photos that I think capture that perfect light. I took these photos with my Olympus 2040Z digital camera. These JPEG images are resized for the Web, but not color corrected. I remember each of these moments even more vividly than they appear here. All photos are looking north. These photos are clues for my stumper!

Upper end of Lake Cachuma, late afternoon on 12 Nov. 2001. [1b12-011.jpg]   Painted Cave seen from Santa Barbara, early morning on 9 Dec. 2001. [1c09-004.jpg]   Railroad trestle at Surf Beach, Lompoc, late afternoon on 31 Jan. 2002. [2131-130.jpg]

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