Where waves and sunset collide

Nicole Martinelli

• Photography
• 2025
• 24x36

There are moments that exist for only a breath the instant a wave rises to meet the last light of day, when the sun spills across the water in molten gold and the whole sea seems to hold its glow. This was one of those moments. The sky burned a deep amber, the horizon dissolved into warmth, and a single wave caught fire along its crest as sunlight and water collided in the open ocean I waited for this. A wave never breaks the same way twice, and the light shifts by the second, so capturing this exact meeting of sun and sea was a fleeting moment that lasted no longer than a heartbeat. With only adjustments to saturation, contrast, and color, I drew out the feeling I held in that instant of the quiet intensity of nature in motion, beautiful and powerful all at once. I hope this photo lets others step into that moment and stay as long as you wish, in a place where time does not exist. There is something steadying in the rhythm of waves they rise, they fall, and they rise again. Like us, the sea moves through its storms and still meets the light. May this remind you that even in thse most turbulent time for all of us that there is always the beauty of nature and there is always another wave coming to catch the sun. – Nicole Martinelli

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