Sunset over the meadows…

Last Friday in the late afternoon I walked into town and took my camera hoping to find some pictures. Half way there the light started to fade. I was disapointed, but I kept going with the hope of catching a rare photo with evening light on a building or something. On an impulse I turned down and headed toward the traditional meadow that sits between two small shallow streams before the water joins and flows as one river underneath the bridge into Stamford. As I stepped clear of the tiny narrow street of ancient houses too dark to photograph, I looked out across the expanse of green and saw a large orange sun setting over the trees.

It was almost a half circle. I clutched my bag holding the camera and ran to the fence that lines the northern stream, but by the time I pulled out the camera and remembered to take off the lensecap, half of what was left of the sun had slid down behind the trees. I took a few shots and then ran to get a better shot down by the bridge. I’m so out of shape that after three hundred yards the sun had slid down behind the trees. I started snapping before thinking to check the setting…sure enough it wasn’t right. So changing it to landscape I kept snapping, but the sun was now a smudge of orange behind the trees and the ducks were swimming on a river of molten silver. I love water. I love taking pictures of water. (My name in Turkish or so I’ve read means ‘flowing like water’, a perfect name for me!) I focused on the stream and the ducks not thinking any of it would come out because I’m a photographic idiot and I’ve no idea really how light will translate into a picture. I’m really pleased with how the pictures of the water turned out. They look like abstract art; as if the shadows are affecting the water. Love it! It was a really magical walk.