Found in Translation: Xiá in the Sky

The beautiful thing about the sky is that it always changes, but will still be the same. It's a contradiction we all welcome since paradoxes are wonderful after all. For us, the best color that the clouds often wear is rosy pink. And in China, they're called xiá.

Credits: orangebird, filby, sandkorn, feelux & dabai

Chinese dictionary Fast Chinese defines xiá (霞) simply to be "red clouds", and these are usually rosy clouds that can be found during sunrise or sunset.

It's such a simple Chinese word that holds so much beauty. Most of the time we rarely witness dusk and dawn as we live out our ordinary lives and grind. There's just little time to look up and see the heavens blanketed in something that is neither cerulean or indigo in the blue hours. Not yellow or orange in the golden hours. It's simply rose.

The best time of the day to capture xiá is the time between dusk and nightfall. It's the short minutes when the sun has simply set, yet there's still light coming from the horizon, turning everything it touches to rouge. If you're an early riser, wait during the blue hours, and pink clouds will come out just before sunrise.

Of course, we also have the Lomographic version of capturing xiá. Load up your film with a color negative and use a red or pink filter (experiment with the temperature by mixing in orange and blue filters too!).

Credits: eskimofriend, onkel-m, novakmisi, naomac & brooks

The next time you spot some xiá in the sky, make sure you capture them on film and upload them in your LomoHome!

2018-09-06 #culture #xia #color-chronicles

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