A twilight that stirs the imagination.

A twilight that stirs the imagination.

Have you ever been in a deep, dense forest at night?

No, I don’t mean casual night walks; there is little pleasure in those, and they carry risks—ranging from encounters with predators to a high chance of injury.

I am talking about those times when you’ve come to the woods for a few days, pitched your tents, and suddenly—in the dead of night—you hear an unexpected sound, like a snapping branch or the cry of an owl.

You can stay in your tent, hoping whatever danger exists will pass you by, or you can try to investigate the area and scare off any uninvited guests.

It is hard to say who is more afraid in that moment: the one who spotted your tent, or the one who decided to play the hero.

I don’t recall exactly how it happened the first time, but I did leave my tent and step out into the darkness.

As the glow of the dying campfire faded from view, my eyes gradually adjusted to the dark—and that was when I saw a faint luminescence.

Today, I would compare it to the glowing forest on the fictional planet Pandora from the movie Avatar—less intense, perhaps, but definitely a glow.

At first, I didn't understand what it was—after all, it was my very first camping trip—so I decided to move closer to the source of the light.

My imagination conjured up all sorts of possibilities: fireflies, or perhaps other animals emitting a phosphorescent glow.

When I got very close, I knelt down, reached out my hand, and tried to catch a firefly.

But my hand found only the rotten wood of an old stump—the very thing that was phosphorescing in the dark. "Rotten bits"—that is what they call the remnants of phosphorescent cellulose that fungal mycelia have thoroughly consumed; or perhaps they glow for some other reason—I do not know—but my first encounter with such a glow was truly astonishing.

The photos I took in negative mode remind me of that time.

Zoom in on a photo for a closer view.

More to come!

Enjoy viewing the photos and reading the article!

Have a blessed day!

Category:	Art, Photography, digital art.
Tools:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300
Location:	Ukraine
Author:	Author @barski. In my publications you will see only my author's works.