Dragon Tiger Pagodas at Dusk

Two tiered towers rise from the still surface of Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung, their layered rooflines stacked toward a sky dissolving from deep amber at the horizon into soft violet and pale blue above. The scene is caught at that precise moment between day and night when the pagodas' warm golden and crimson lantern glow begins to outshine the last of the sunset. Every tier, every upturned eave, doubles itself perfectly in the water below, so the composition reads almost symmetrically — fire above, fire below, with a band of molten orange sky stitched between. A cluster of small boats rests along the left bank, their cool blues anchoring the foreground against all that warmth.