A Vampire Named Louis Made Me Love Sunsets

People constantly ask me, “Why do you take so many pictures?” The time for an explanation has finally arrived.

Today WordPress threw a curveball by saying that I  could write about anything… as long as I included all the colors of the rainbow. So, today I’m not writing about rainbows, I’m writing about their sisters; sunrises and sunsets.

When I was in High School I read a book titled ‘Interview with a Vampire’, since then I have been mystified by sunrises and sunsets… During the year 1791 a handsome young gentlemen, Louis, is bitten by the Vampire Lestat. On Louis’ last morning as a human he watches the sunrise; he stated, ‘I remember it completely, and yet I can’t recall any sunrise before it. I watched the whole magnificence of the dawn for the last time as if it were the first.”

I am currently reading Clockwork Angel. The main character, Tessa, states; “One must always be careful of books, and what is inside of them, for words have the power to change us.” I agree, wholeheartedly, with Miss. Tessa.

Reading Vampire Louis’ thoughts about the magnificence of the sun, and the fact that he couldn’t recall a sunrise before then, made me have a harsh realization…. Beautiful and wonderful things happen in our lives each and every day, but we seldom stop to celebrate them. Oftentimes we pause and glance briefly at a flower, rainbow, or colorful sunset, but we quickly forget them. Just as Louis had with the sun, until he knew it was his last chance to see it.

This is why I started taking pictures of everything. Of course, in 2004 all my cameras were the disposable ‘wind up’ kind– but I made due. I wanted to remember it all, and I still want to. I am, by no means, a great photographer. But the things I photograph are great—well, great to me. And that’s what matters.

And now, a word on rainbows: In the beginning of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Dorothy is living in a black and white world. Nevertheless, she sung us a song about a rainbow and a bluebird. As she sung the black and white remained on screen; however, it didn’t remain in my mind. I imagined an illumination of raying colors, with a bright blue bluebird flying over it. The movie remains in black and white until Dorothy gets to Oz. But that didn’t keep me from having that colorful visualization.

I like this part of me… the part that takes too many pictures, imagines things, believes in magic. But, I am a grown up now… and many grownups lose the magic as they get old. However, I believe that I will grow up, but I will never grow old.

“Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.”

– Elizabeth