Phenomenal: Sun Dogs

As so often in life, many beautiful things have their price and/or their conditions. Like this morning. When I took a first glance out of my window at the sunrise which was just about to happen, I noticed rainbow-like colors just above the horizon to the Southwest of the sunrise…could it be a rare “sun dog” was making an appearance…? I quickly grabbed a camera and my phone and ran out of the house to a more open area. And sure enough, as the sun was just bursting over the ridge line of the Wet Mountains in the East, two iridescent light spots were rapidly emerging seemingly out of nowhere to the left and right of the sun! Pretty soon the spots were glowing in all colors of a rainbow and I could even see the tiny ice particles (which are necessary as the main ingredient to create the sun dog phenomenon - I will submit photos of the ice particles separately) floating and glittering everywhere around me in the air. It was pure magic! I was standing in the middle of our driveway, completely mesmerized by Nature’s early morning light show. When I tried to take some additional photos, I noticed that my fingers were completely numb and refused to function properly when I tried to operate my camera and the iPhone. That’s when I realized that I had rushed outside without gloves a warm jacket. And now I felt like I was frozen stiff! I had to get back into the warm house fast. Which I did immediately, and once inside I checked our weather station: The outside temperature was Minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit ( about Minus 20 degrees Celsius) and the windchill made it feel like minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit (ca. Minus 26 Celsius). No wonder I was frozen like a popsicle! After all, extremely cold temperatures are the other must-have ingredient for stunningly beautiful sun dogs. And such Beauty definitely comes with a price…

Sony RX10 IV, Diffuse Filter

Minor adjustments in LIGHTROOM