Sunset at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Colorful View

Sometimes, you just happen across happy scenes that catch you by surprise and make you stop and take a photo or two. That is what this was at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

We had spent the entire day at Animal Kingdom during our June 2018 Florida trip. It had rained for an hour or more that afternoon, but then the rain eventually ended, which was nice.

As we were walking back from Asia to Discovery Island, crossing the bridge over the Discovery River, we suddenly noticed that the sun was starting to come through the clouds. The sun was low in the sky because it was about to set, and it apparently found a few clouds breaks in the edge of the storm clouds that had brought us rain. That made the clouds look even cooler, and the reflection in the river made it all even better.

A single photo never quite does justice to a sunset as beautiful as this one was, but hopefully this photo will do.

If you are wondering, the bridge to Africa can be seen off in the distance. And you can sort of make out the Tree of Life at the left behind some of the trees closer to where we were standing. Because this part of the river is not used for much these days, the water was nice and still, almost like glass. That made the reflection even better.

See more photos from this trip in the June 2018 Florida Trip section.

Wonderful Color

I am always amazed at just how colorful the world is. Around here where we live, the main colors are green in the summer and brown in the winter, topped off by a blue sky. We do get some flashes of other colors in the fall and in the spring, too. Florida has even more shades of green than what we have here, and their green does not fade to brown in the winter quite like ours does. In Hawaiʻi, there was also red dirt and blue water thrown into the mix. 

And then, when you are least expecting it, the sky takes on all sorts of interesting colors, whether it is oranges and reds in the evening, or sometimes purple, or even a dark gray. The sunlight often takes on a yellow tone, especially early in the morning or just before sunset. And the white clouds serve to break up the sky color on those sunny days, too. 

Sometimes I wonder what it is like for those who are colorblind. And then sometimes I wonder if I would even know if I were colorblind and am not seeing all of the colors that everyone else sees. After all, how can you really describe “red,” except to point out things that are red?

Regardless of how many colors I can see, I am thankful for those that I can see and for how they help to show the beauty of God’s creation.

Bible Verse

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound. Let the fields and everything in them exult. - Psalm 96:11-12

About the Photo

As was mentioned earlier, this was not really a planned-out photo. We just happened to be walking across the bridge when we were blown away by the fantastic view.

Thankfully, the Raw file captured even more of the detail, and I was able to enhance that just a bit in Photoshop to make the colors even more colorful. It almost looks like a painting, but that is really how it was in real life.

Real life can be beautiful sometimes. No, change that. Real life is always beautiful. We just have to stop and appreciate it at times.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: June 13, 2018
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida