The way forward

This morning I visited an exotic location I've been wanting to explore for years ever since I took this photo a few years ago. I've been in the mood for a warm yellow sunrise photo, something different from my usual scenery, so when I woke up later than usual this mornng (5am) I decided to get up and greet the sunrise rather than snooze till the sun rose. When I looked out the window, I just saw cloud, but there was a small gap just above the mountains, so I decided the chance was worth the trip.
What a magical experience! Such an unusual, fantastic landscape! The soft sandstone cliffs are pretty unique along this coast, and I found it has some amazing mini-formations of stalictites and wind-erroded rocks. Best of all, there were no footprints other than mine, no other people at all. And when the sun peeked between the clouds, it gave me the display I was hoping for!

Sunrise from Wolfgat Nature Reserve, False Bay
Camera at 100 ISO and f-stop at f22 to get a slow shutter speed of 1/4 second to capture the blurred motion of the wave washing back down the beach.

I have a tendency to see the beauty in places, people and things. I also see the sadness, and this morning's walk began, and ended, with this view.

 Which brought to mind a few things I've seen and read online, but this quote sums up my feelings about a lot of our environmental problems:

"So yes, there are plenty of problems in the ocean. But it is not yet broken. Depicting the ocean as broken and suffering from a litany of plagues suggests a problem beyond repair. This eventually deters society from engaging." from The ocean is not broken, but consumer behaviour is Carlos Duarte, Director of Oceans Institute at University of Western Australia, referring to Ivan Macfadyen's report of his recent Pacific journey in The ocean is broken.)


And this film trailer says a lot in a few minutes: www.midwayfilm.com "The images are iconic. The horror, absolute. Our goal, however, is to look beyond the grief and the tragedy. It is here, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that we have the opportunity to see our world in context. On Midway, we can not deny the impact we have on the planet. Yet at the same time, we are struck by beauty of the land and the soundscape of wildlife around us, and it is here that we can see the miracle that is life on this earth. So it is with the knowledge of our impact here that we must find a way forward."