Sunset over Karadeniz

The waves break endlessly against the rocks, forming a regular, comforting, rhythm. Birds swoop and call, and sometimes take flight in groups, flapping against the sky, itself slowly changing from blue, to green, to orange, to red.

As the Sun dips into the ocean it seems to grow larger and redder. Its shape fattens and distorts, and it is no longer the round yellow star we knew in its younger hours. In its dying moments, before being swallowed up by the boundless Ocean, the Sun seems to lose its power. We, mere humans, are no longer afraid to stare into its heart. What do we see there? What deep secrets does our Sun reveal?

In the final moments, just before the upper edge of the star sinks below the waves, I find a secret. Like the sunset — beautiful, but ultimately brief — so are we. In the grand dance of creation we exist for fleeting moments, a life amongst countless others, no more significant than any one sunset.

Zonguldak, Turkey. Original Content. Shot at 85mm, f/7.1, 1/200, ISO 200, June 2019.