Week 2: Morning Stream of Light

Every morning I'm woken up by a stream of light shooting straight into my eyes, through blinds that won't shut all the way. On a normal day, this light is the worst possible thing to wake up to, especially when my alarm doesn't go off for another hour. Yet, on days when I'm awake before the sun is, there's something beautiful about it. Maybe because it give off a soft yellow glow that bounces onto the walls, adding color to an otherwise blank space. Maybe because when you capture it with your camera and look closely, you'll see how the light bends, creating a kaleidoscope of colorful rays. It's interesting how many dimensions there are to a simple ray of light. How you don't have to wait for the end of a rainstorm to see a rainbow. Beams of color can be found at the right angle of a camera or the right surface. When we take the time to look at what's shining right into our faces, we see the combination of colors coming together to create something beautiful. It's like a magic trick: If you study the trick, you can see the intricate breakdowns that create the illusion.

Week 2: Sunset on the Bay

This is kind of an older picture from my senior year of high school, but I took it during prom when we had a cruise on the Bay (I'm from the Bay Area). I have a series of pictures of this sunset as it traveled across the horizon, but this one is my favorite because the peaks of the bridge frame the sun perfectly. I love the way the sun reflects on the water and it almost looks like a road - the way it paints the water gold where the light hits it.   It was a rare clear night in the city so the light from the sun was uninterrupted by the usual fog. You can see the silhouette of the mountains in the back behind the bridge and to the left is the skyline of San Francisco. I can still remember how beautiful the sky was that night, everything was illuminated and orange (which was great because there was a Giants game that night as well). This picture always reminds me of how beautiful nature can be.

The Daily Light

So this is the lamp that lights up my room every night since our apartment does not have installed lights on the ceilings. As you can see, it's not the best light, but it does make me feel as ease because of it's the low intensity light. The cover dims the light, allowing it to not become too bright and deflects the source of the light in my vision. Once the cover is off, the light become too intense and the source of the light cannot be avoided by the eye in my room. This light serves as my sun in the room, and I don't think I would have gotten through the first quarter of school without it. The light is more concentrated towards the ground, which is where I do my homework. You can say that the cover acts like a reflector. On the ceiling, the lights outlines the little parts sticking out, which creates a desert-like field. All in all, this light is the best,

Week #2 Half-Lit

So one of my light bulbs died on me yesterday while I was taking a shower. It was actually pretty scary considering my vulnerable state. Fortunately, nothing else happened, and I finished my shower faster than usual. Looking around the bathroom, it was darker than before. I can still see fine, but it is definitely not the same. Funny how you don't really think about bathroom lights twice until one of them dies, or how necessary any source of light is in your life. At least I didn't. Looking at those lights, it definitely feels unwholesome, awkward. Then I wondered what would've happened if both lights when out? I could've slipped, tripped, and/or fallen. Now, I'm kind of glad it was only one light instead of two. I guess moral of the story is be appreciative of bathroom lights :)

Week 2: Illuminated Clouds

I live in glorious Northern California, in the beautiful redwood forests that our state is known for. I feel that typically it is colorful clouds at sunsets or sunrises that receive the most appreciation, but as can be seen here, these white glorious fluffballs were interacting with the sun in a wonderful way, where the light behind the clouds created shadows on the side facing me, while brilliantly illuminating other parts of them. The beams of light can be seen shooting from above the cloud, and the sky itself is several different shades of blue because of this. I was also inspired to take the photo because of the silhouette of the trees against the sky. It was quite the magnificent sight to behold.

The Perfect View

I was on a road trip with my sister and we had the opportunity to stop at the Grand Canyon. It was a perfect day out, the sun was climbing high in the sky, the wind was perfect and the sky couldn't have been more blue. The sun is truly a beautiful light source, the way it captured every crevasse of the canyon was beautiful. What was fascinating was the farther you looked out the bluer and graying in canyon seemed to get. It looked like the clouds resting on the earth in the distance and the horizon looked perfectly white. I was in awe. I felt warm and happy standing there staring off into the distance. I could have stayed there all day. :) Maybe next time I'll go camping there and see what a sun set looks like.

Searchlight in Darkness

I was outside talking with family and freezing. Outside was very foggy and dusty because the roads were dirt roads. I saw headlights coming our way and the gradation of the headlights due to the dirt and haze. Considering my apathy for being cold, I already had a disposition to not wanting to be outside. I was already anxious and tense from the environment, and it was dark. When the headlights suddenly appeared and seemed to continuously moving I was curious but cautions of who would be out in a secluded part of that roadway at that time of night. I really enjoyed the creepy cold glow radiating from the ground that the headlights created as it came over the hill. The glow had a mixture of cold from the color of the headlights and a creepy feeling from the source coming from the ground.