Two skies: a lake after the rain

Twenty seconds of a lake so still it looks like two skies. A vertical film about the calm after rain.

After the storm

It had rained all morning. At about two o'clock it stopped, the wind dropped completely, and the lake turned into a mirror. We had about half an hour before the wind came back.

Vertical framing works here because the reflection doubles the height of everything. The hills, the clouds and their copies fill the tall frame from top to bottom.

Keeping it still

For a mirror shot, the camera must be low and level. We put it on a small tripod on a flat rock at the water's edge, with the horizon exactly in the middle of the frame. A spirit level on the hot shoe made sure it did not lean. The slightest tilt breaks the illusion.

Waiting for the wind to stop

The half hour of stillness did not come by chance. We had spent the morning in the car, watching the rain, checking the wind forecast. When it showed a gap of calm air after the rain moved east, we drove to the lake and waited on the shore. The wind dropped at 14:05. By 14:40 it was back, and the mirror was gone.

Why no music

We tried three pieces of music under this film, and all of them made it worse. The real sound is almost nothing: a few drops from the trees, a distant bird, the very faint lap of water against the rock. That near-silence is what makes the stillness believable. Music would have told you how to feel. The silence lets you notice it yourself.