Scarlet Silence

After paddling several miles looking for a setting for a sunset that also showed some fall foliage, I had given up hope that an opening in the distant horizon would allow the Sun to light up the bottom of the clouds. As I began paddling back to my island campsite, I noticed a faint red glow, so I stopped and steadied my canoe. The glow was visibly expanding and getting brighter, like a slow-motion explosion of color, but it was a silent explosion. There were no high-contrast fiery waves in the clouds, but the more gentle effect of a diffuse, but brilliant glow.

It was not the kind of sunset that makes people jump and shout, but it was spectacular in a different, more quiet way. Another paddler approached me from the West, obviously making a bee-line for camp before it got dark. He must have seen me "parked," facing west, because he turned his kayak around and stopped paddling. We both just sat there in silence until it was dark.

Please see the larger version.

Canon 5D Mark III; Canon 24-105 mm.
Four exposures at f/5.6; ISO 640
Hand-held held from canoe
I cloned out a kayak and paddler, and a boat house on the distant shore.