Taiga sunset, Denali National Park
We were in the middle of a 2-week trip to Denali National Park, camping in Teklanika campground. It had been raining the whole time, and we were heading out of the park, just to dry our gear and get some hot food. We hadn't been lucky in terms of sunsets so far - the days were overcast with heavy rain, and most days you couldn't even tell when exactly the sun went down. By the time we were approaching Healy, it was nearly dark and we made it to the only open restaurant -the Totem Inn- just before closing time. We waited for our take-out pizza, and when we came out were greeted by this spectacular view. The last rays of the sun had found a hole in the cloud cover, and were lighting up the rain and clouds from below. We grabbed our cameras, used the car as a tripod, and managed to get off a few frames before the light disappeared again. The layered spruce tree silhouettes, and fiery red/deep blue/purple clouds are what make this image work. The colors were pretty much unbelievable straight out of the camera, and only minimal post-processing was applied. The pizza tasted great by the way - just a bit cold by the time we packed our gear.
