The Light in this Place

I uploaded this in its original format, so you can click on it, and it should get REALLY big

 

The South of France is well known for its special light, especially at the end of summer. So special in fact, that artists (Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso, Braque, Chagall and Matisse, to name a few of the better known ones) moved there for just one reason;  to capture it in their paintings.

 

‘Fierce’, ‘vivid’, ‘clarity’ are words that bloggers use in order to describe that light. I am sure that it’s accurate, but what makes the light so different there is not quite clear. Logically speaking, it would have to be something with the angle of the sun light, the composition and temperature of the air, and the landscape on which it reflects all. And all that in the right mixture.  

 

However, had they seen the light here, on an October afternoon, right before sunset, they might have all moved to the shores of Lebanon. There something about the light here as well. I have travelled substantially, and lived in a number of different countries, both in the southern and northern hemisphere, the western as well as the eastern.  Yet nowhere else do I have this habit of constantly photographing sunsets. And it is not the setting sun that I shoot, but rather the city receiving the last rays of light.

I'd like someone to give me a scientific explanation on this (if they know it).

 There’s something about the light here. It diffuses to a very soft orange, and then slowly changes into a even softer lilac. I cannot quite describe it, but the colors are inspiring enough to keep making photos of it. (see earlier post )

Just can't get enough of it.