Passage Through Amber

About this piece

A backlit sailboat fills the foreground, its mast and fine rigging traced against an expansive amber sky. Along the right edge, a palm-lined shore balances the sail’s triangular form, while broken reflections carry the warm light across the water.

The story

I watched the sail cut a clean shape into the golden sky, its rigging thin enough to disappear wherever the light grew brightest. Beyond the boat, palms gathered along the rocky shore, and a low strip of land held the horizon. I framed the vessel with room around its mast, letting the sky remain part of the subject. Across the foreground, each small ripple caught a different measure of gold.