24-11-2013 / Personal Visions #3: The Dark Side Of The Sun
The Dark Side Of The Sun
I hereby present the third entry on the Personal Visions series: The Dark Side Of The Sun.
Technical commentary:
This was a difficult photograph to achieve. The original image looks nothing like the final result you see here.
In the beginning, the intent was to display a group of sunrays that were falling over the little station you see at the top of the mountain, it was meant to be a soothing and warm picture.
That wasn't meant to be. Due to the light conditions I had when taking the shot, it was either having the rays and showing the rest of the content in the image or killing them and show the drama visible in the clouds. I had to make a compromise regarding the exposure in order to capture both but during post-processing I had to pick one option.
Considering the fact that back then it was a tense and "cloudy" time for me, I went the other way and decided to focus on the underlying opportunity the image offered.
The group of rays couldn't endure the adjustments I tried to make in order to enhance them, that also influenced in the decision of switching mindsets in order to achieve this permutation.
Tone curve adjustments had to be very careful; I had to apply several in order not to kill specific sections of the photo. For example, at some point there was a version that obscured completely the horizon line and the lower half was just a black blotch with only the sky being visible. However, it also meant losing the station, and that's a critical part of the photo for me.
If I recall correctly, this photograph was sent to my colleague at the last day of 2013 and that's because it took a long time to process this picture to a point where I was satisfied with it. The fact that I couldn't achieve my original intent and had to change concepts was a hindrance to overcome, but it took time.
Personal commentary:
Something that I realized during post-production was the fact that this image offered far more than I thought.
During that time, I had been going through certain personal turbulence and internally, I was feeling like in the picture: ready to burn it all.
Back then I also had been reading about the fact that the sun will eventually deplete the elements it uses to produce energy and thus light for the solar system, and will turn into a Red Giant star and consume whatever it's in the path; that will include Earth.
My personal feelings and that piece of knowledge ended up mixing and would end up becoming the center theme of the final rendition of this photograph: what happens when even the brightest of beings has had enough and decides to unleash its whole power to end it all?
Which is the drama the picture has: the sun is barely visible in the overall image, yet you can see his wrath everywhere. He has reclaimed the light he emits in order to use it to destroy everything in the path. Everything that he hasn't touched yet is in the dark, waiting for the inevitable.
And here it enters the station on top of the mountain and why it was so important to keep it in the final version: to me the station represents something or someone who didn't do anything wrong yet it happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The sun may have stopped to glance at it and determine whether to carry on and destroy it or to spare it and leave it unharmed. At this point, the sun it's the omnipotent being that can't be challenged by anyone or anything.
Or maybe the station is watching as the sun comes directly at it and it's accepting its fate, regardless of whether it deserves it or not.
It knows that there's nowhere left to run and nowhere left to hide.
The morale of this, at least for me, is that everyone, even the brightest of beings has a dark side, but when it is unleashed, it isn't shadows that you should fear, but the fire that can't be extinguished.
...And so, I stood at the edge of time while the Lord Of Light gazed straight at me, with his infinity fury and the darkness he seldom reveals.
That's when my heart stuttered for an eternal moment and I realized that, yes, I should fear the things inside the darkness
But I should be even more terrified by those who can master the infinity of light, for they are capable of eternal fire and violent darkness
A fire only a fool would try to smother
Darkness only a madman would even dare to challenge...
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