One of the most fascinating places near us is the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, about 20 minutes from our apartment. You may not know the name of the location, but I’m sure you’ve seen it in numerous movies and TV shows such as Star Trek and The Flintstones. The area of uplifted rocks was shaped by movement along the San Andreas Fault.
We had been there before and decided to go check it out at sunset the other day. There was a storm system moving in and I hoped that we’d get some dramatic skys. The dramatic skys never materialized, but the warm yellow late afternoon did a great job of making the reddish colored rocks really pop with color. That’s one of the reasons landscape photographers love sunrise and sunset times of day. The warm red-yellow light streaking low across the landscape is nicely contrasted by the blue light from the sky illuminating the shadows. The low angle of light brings out the texture and creates the very dramatic color combinations that give a photo a lot of depth.
