While visiting my wife's parents in Palm Desert, I took some solo time during our last day and trekked just far enough beyond the city's boundaries to enjoy the illusion (and quiet solitude) of being removed from civilization. Doing so was a temporary immersion and recollection of the soothing peacefulness and arid, severe beauty of my Sonoran Desert heritage. Such all-too-rare moments are a refreshment to my soul as would be a cool, water-filled oasis to a nomad.
This photograph is thus deeply personal in its evocation of my spiritual home.
However, it also depicts a scene emblematic of my in-laws' condition: their lives are winding down, their energy and health beginning to fade . . . twilight is on the horizon. We visited to see to their comfort, and to spend time with the remaining light in their eyes. There is a profound sense of rapid change in the air, attended by a potent reminder of the miracle, and tenuousness, of life.
Sunset, San Jacinto Peak, #1091
© 2010 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.
(click image for larger version)
Details: September 18, 2010; Canon 20D; f/5.6 @ 1/3200 sec; —1/3 EV; ISO 400; 85mm.
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