Evocative...but why?

This piece builds on the theme of early morning light raised in the posts 'Horizons...' and 'Good Morning, Durham'.

While driving a lonely but gorgeous byway in Utah last week, I found myself contemplating why the sight of early morning (or even late evening) light holds so much more sway than bright afternoon light. Photographers talk about the usual soft light-better colors-gentler illumination-longer shadows stuff, but that doesn't explain why majority of the hordes at 'sunset point' or 'sunrise point' at natural attractions everywhere brave factors as diverse as traffic, long hikes, biting cold or searing heat, and unspeakable crowds to catch sunrise or sunset, without so much as a disposable camera on their persons.

The sight of the rising and setting sun, and its light reflected on the environs is deeply evocative. This goes beyond just beauty - it is a more visceral appeal, and far more universal than other forms of beauty - human, artistic or any other type. As a student of neuroscience, the universality of this reaction leads me to believe that there is a neurobiological basis to this - a visual trigger of a hippocampal memory...or amygdaloid reflex...with Darwinian roots...perhaps...

Ultimately, anything related to photography comes down to a brain response - now all we need to do is pinpoint how!

The pictures below were taken over the past year, and are intended as a template for pondering over this idea.