Michael Wilkins
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Dusk photograph of the Three Sisters rock formation in the Blue Mountains, three sandstone pinnacles standing above a deep forested valley under a pink and orange sky.

The Three Sisters

Blue Mountains, Australia · May 2019

1D X Mark II, 24 millimetres, f 4, 1/125 of a second, ISO 1600

The blue haze is eucalyptus oil. The valley genuinely does that.

The Three Sisters at dusk with the Jamison Valley dropping away behind them. The blue that gives these mountains their name is real and physical — eucalyptus forest releases enough oil into the air to scatter light toward the blue end, so the further you look the bluer it gets. Shot late enough that the sandstone had gone warm and the valley behind was already cooling.