West Virginia

connecting with West Virginia...
Words spoken to you<br/>Find no response, nor echo.<br/>Sinking in fall fog.
If you happened to look at the world light pollution map, you’d find out that there are almost no places with true dark sky in the entire US east of Mississippi (Western Europe is even worse in this sense). A few exceptions include Northern Maine, Adirondack mountains in upstate New York and, to some degree, Dolly Sods/Spruce Knob area in West Virginia. And at the same time, on the other side of the ocean, in the country I was born, the electricity now is one of the most valuable assets.
It is such a simple yet profound process of living the cycles of nature. Feeling every moment instead of letting them disappear in the routine of a regular day. Thirty minutes before the first twilight, full darkness, taking pictures of the sky, astronomical twilight, nautical twilight, a few other shots of the foreground, civil twilight, sunrise, then driving back home and to the office.
The spectrum of reactions from people viewing this photo is as wide as it gets. Some appreciate the composition; others are upset by wind turbines “ruining” the landscape. Still others celebrate clean energy. The point of this picture? Only you decide.
Fifteen minutes after the incredible pre-sunset light came into resonance with the color of the blueberry bushes, twilight took over. By some invisible signal, all the woody hollows around the spot became a chorus of howling coyotes. I’m not sure which part of that evening gave me the most memorable chills.
The area of Dolly Sods traditionally sees fall colors much earlier in the season. Behind me is the Dolly Sods plateau; even farther behind are Canaan Valley and the Allegheny Mountains. The slightly higher elevation of these regions makes the temperature noticeably lower than anywhere else in the Mid-Atlantic. Right in front of me, in the valley below, fall is only now starting to show its snap. Dolly Sods is indeed a unique place—allegedly resembling the Canadian tundra more than other regions of the Appalachians.
On the verge of day and night, between clouds and clear sky.
Winter in Virginia and nearby states typically means no foliage and no snow either. Which makes landscape photography not that fruitful. Well, it also makes rare snowfalls and foggy mornings even more precious. And sunsets… Sunsets are the best this time of the year.
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