The other day I posted an image of windmills at sunset. I really like the graphic simplicity of that image, but it needs the clouds to help make the sky interesting. Unfortunately, as the sun got lower on the horizon, the clouds were moving rapidly overhead from west to east – leaving nothing but clear sky to the west. Does that mean it’s time to pack up and go home?
The answer in this case was simply to turn around and look east. The clouds that had been in the western sky were now in the east, and the setting sun was creating a wonderful, reddish glow on the nearest clouds and beautiful pastels everywhere. The result was a completely different look. The color palette tends more toward blues and reds instead of bright yellows, and the dominant feature of the clouds gives a much softer feel to the sky.
The two photos were taken about 20 minutes apart, but they’re 180 degrees apart – both literally and figuratively.