Calla Lilies

Up before first light; the Mendocino headlands still in shades of black and white. I wait, standing in the winter muck, breathing on my hands. Then sun behind the hills and color, soft, cool and delicate, begins to appear in the wild calla lilies. Ravens croak. I make long exposures; then, gradually, shorter ones, as the sun rises behind the hills. And then finally the first light beams spill onto the headlands, golden shafts warming the lilies, and they begin to glow with an inner fire. Riotous color now, and I work quickly, trying to capture it all at once until the sun works itself free of the hills, and the daylight has arrived. Harsher light now; the mystery hidden for hours. The delicate petals have turned to metal. I pack up and head back.