Apollo's fiery chariot on the horizon [explored on 2022/12/12]

I was in Messina, Sicily, for a convention - Messina, the city of the Strait. The city of the two seas, the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian - not two whichever seas, but the very stuff of myths and epics. Scylla and Charybdis haunted these narrow, deep, perilous waters.

As you would expect, I had tried to leave my camera at home (it was work, after all...), but it nevertheless jumped into my backpack, along with my Samyang wide angle lens and my tripod. Unfortunately neither of them told the remote shutter, so it stayed safe and cozy within my gear bag at home. Oh my gosh! What was the use of having a tripod while lacking a remote shutter? I just hoped that enabling the Delay exposure Mode would be sufficient to compensate for my awkward finger actually pressing the shutter release button.
So I began my Sicilian days with just as many sunrise sessions. Wow.
The weather was consistently unstable - an ever changing sky enlivened by an endless turmoil of clouds (sometimes benign, sometimes threatening and ominous), sudden showers followed by warm sun, and then again. There was at first a peculiar ambiance - a stormy mood, I would say - an epic character reminiscent of remote ages, when the gods and Cyclops trod these lands and monsters haunted these waters. I could understand the sense of awe the ancient dwellers of these places felt while contemplating such views. I could feel the presence of the gods of old just before me. Just all around me.

This photo comes from my fourth Sicilian sunrise, when I ventured as far as Capo Peloro, where the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas swirl into each other. Directly above the beach stands the mammoth electricity pylon of Messina, that was one of the tallest in the world. It is disused now, but it still stands proudly like a sentinel on the very northeasternmost tip of the island - a modern giant guarding the place once haunted by the monstruous Charybdis. The dolphins and swordfish that frequent these waters in Summer where gone, but the magic of the place was fully there. It was a windy, almost but not quite cloudless morning and the blooming light at the horizon, pouring from the rugged coastline of Calabria felt just like the fiery chariot of Apollo was about to rise from the very edge of the world as the wavebreakers emerging from the sand were stirring to hail the new day.
Apollo was one of the Olympian gods, son of Zeus and the nymph Leto. He was the god who used to give his gifts to the mortals: medicine and healing were among the most important gifts from Apollo (Asclepius was his son), along with music, songs, dance and poetry (Orpheus was another renowned son of his); he was the inventor of string music and archery, and the protector of herds and crops from diseases. Apollo was also a protector of the young, concerned with the health and education of children. He was also the giver and inspirer of laws and of prophecy - he was the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Apollo was a complex, multifaceted, mostly benevolent deity, who was willing to offer his many gifts to the mortals, to the point that one could wonder what was the raison d'etre of the other gods. And it is no wonder that since the 5th century BC he has been identified with Helios, the personification of the Sun, and depicted while driving a fiery chariot across the sky, maybe as Aurora, goddess of the dawn, strews flowers in his path, announcing his - and the new day’s - arrival (see an example from Italian Renaissance).

Explored on 2022/12/12 nr. 41

I have processed this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-2.0/-1.0/0/+1.0/+2.0 EV] by luminosity masks with the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal" exposure shot).
It has been a long, difficult, and devious post-processing journey, and I am not really ok with how this photo has come out. The sky always tried to overdo itself and I often had to retrace my steps, trying to get a more realistic result; this was made even more difficult by those streaks of clouds, that were strangely flat and saturated from the very onstart of the journey. I tried my best to bring out the real three-dimensional look of the treacherous clouds while not having the whole sky looking like clown vomit (I am indebted to Pat David for this brilliant, self-explanatory phrase). No inverted RGB blue channel technique for this photo, since it only worsened things. I hope to get your feedback and constructive criticism.
As usual, I gave the finishing touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and played a bit with dodging and burning in the foreground.
Raw files processed with Darktable.

Taken in: Italy / Sicily / Messina / Torre di Faro (show map)

Taken on: September 30, 2022

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Italia

Italy

Sicily

Messina

Strait of Messina

Stretto di Messina

Greek myths

mythology

epics

myths

miti

mitologia

sea

water

clouds

morning

early morning

dawn

sunrise

daybreak

Aurora

Apollo

Helios

chariot

dance

Zeus

painterly

orange

pink

rosy

sun

sky

seascape

mountains

hills

Calabria

mainland

alba

mattina

gods

ancient gods

Olympian gods

Nikon

D750

luminosity masks

Samyang

14 mm

Darktable

the Gimp

wideangle

Nik Color Efex Pro 4

inverted blue channel

beach

spiaggia

dark

wavebreakers

Crithmum

Crithmum maritinum

rock samphire

sea fennel

samphire

finocchio marino

bushes

cespugli

macchia mediterranea « less

Sets appears in: • In the Land of the Gods • Explored photos more » • Sunrise « less

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Camera: Nikon D750, f/14.0, 1/6 sec, 14mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.167 sec (1/6)
Focal Length:	14mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	GIMP 2.10.32
Show full info

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