Sunset tree
- 📍 Location: Les Petites Rivières, Le Vésinet, Yvelines, France
- 📅 Date: 2020
A pine leaning out over the lawn, and behind it a sky that went violet and magenta for a few minutes before dropping to a hard orange seam at the treeline. The sun broke through right at the foot of the trunk.
I framed upright and let the tree cross the whole height of the picture, with its crown near the top edge and the burst of light at its base. The trunk divides the sky into two unequal parts, which is more interesting than centring it would have been.
Everything below the horizon is dark green going to black. I exposed for the colour and accepted losing the grass, because the grass was not the reason I stopped walking — the sky was, and a picture should be honest about what made someone raise a camera.
The purple in this frame is real, and it surprises people. It comes from high cloud still catching light the ground has already lost, it lasts about four minutes, and there is no way to plan for it. You are either out with a camera when it happens or you are not.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
