7.17.2008

Arctic light

Sun setting on ferns in Anchorage

There's something about the quality of light up north that's difficult to describe. Ethereal might be a good adjective. Constant is another. I especially love the summer light at dusk - say, around 11: 30 p.m.

Watching the sun cast the mountains in a shade of pink, called alpenglow, is an amazing sight. The garden loves the light too, and there's nothing like the sun setting on your ferns and flowers at that peaceful time. Very hard to capture with a camera. I took the photos shown here in early June, a few weeks before solstice (when we had over 19 hours of daylight).

Some people here start their descent into depression right on June 21, knowing that we are getting less and less light each day. I prefer to enjoy what we have and appreciate the quality, as much as the quantity, of light.

Tulips at 4 p.m.

Tulips at 10:15 p.m.

1 comments:

Emily said...

We had such an amazing time in Alaska several years ago -- one of the eerie things was how little sleep we needed when the sun "set" around midnight and "rose" again a few hours later. I can only imagine how much more I'd get done in that kind of climate!

Except for winter, of course. :)