Delighted by the Light

Catching rays isn’t just a summertime thing

Many people associate winter with darkness. Soaking up sunlight often evokes images of people on the beach in the height of summer. But winter, also, can be a time of abundant light, especially if you set an intention to find it.

The photo above (as well as the next two below) are recent sunrises over Basin Pond, the body of water we live on in Maine. We’ve been gifted with spectacular sunrises recently. During the winter, it can seem like the sun is always rising or setting and that’s not far from the truth. The shorter days plus the lower angle of the sun mean that sunrise and sunset occupy as much as one-quarter of the daylight hours.

The most intense colors often come as much as forty-five minutes before the actual sunrise, as was the case in the photo below. On the days I wake up a little later or take a morning shower, I can end up missing the color show entirely — and believing I’ve woken to a colorless grey day.

Ice reflects up to 90 percent of light, and much of that reflection is at eye level when the sun is at a low angle. Having studded tires on our fat bikes allows us to explore the icy terrain surrounding the pond and to bask in the richness of late-day light.

Water is also a great reflector and amplifier of light. It reflects up to two-thirds of incoming light and is especially reflective when the sun is at a low angle. Another antidote for dark days and winter blues is to get out on the water or beside it.

Play boaters know a secret. There is no more light-filled place than the white room of a standing wave. The paddler in the photo below lingered for several minutes — surfing, spinning, and boofing — in this wave at Franklin Falls in New Hampshire. It’s called whitewater for a reason.

Many times, we can experience moments of illumination in ordinary things that are close to home: a beech leaf on a south-facing slope catching the afternoon light; the icy imprint of a frozen maple leaf.

We can stay even closer and narrow our gaze even smaller and still find light. Here, a frozen water droplet catches the morning sunlight.

In the photo below, the water vapor from jet contrails diffuses light which is reflected again in the water. The cloud bank in the west also reflects the sunlight, which in turn is reflected in the water. Who ever said winter was a dark time? Light is everywhere. It’s up to us to take the time to go out and look.

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