monochrome misty lake
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: The #Eerie Light Seeps Through

As Halloween nears this week, the Sunday Stills photo challenge is exploring things that are EERIE!

The definition of Eerie is: “Uncanny, so as to inspire superstitious fear; weird: an eerie midnight howl. (esp of places, an atmosphere, etc) mysteriously or uncannily frightening or disturbing; weird; ghostly.” ~ Merriam Webster Dictionary

I’m also sharing for Ritvu’s Lens-Artists’ theme: “light through the cracks.” I love it when themes can be merged together into one challenge.

Wildfires, An Eerie Reminder

While on our trip earlier this month, we drove a few miles along the North Cascades Scenic Highway in Northwestern Washington. Of course, we enjoyed the light of the autumn colors (yellow Western Larches) superimposed against the dark evergreens along the road.

Pines and Western Larch

Our destination was the Washington Pass Overlook near North Cascades National Park. This beautiful area has stunning views of the Liberty Bell peaks and yellow Western Larches.

Engelmann Spruce trees
Engelmann Spruce frame Liberty Bell peaks

However, all around us, there were eerie reminders of the effects of wildfires that ravaged this area in the summer of 2023. Despite the devastation, nature always comes back.

Burnt evergreens

“Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher.” — William Wordsworth

These twisted, eerie trees still reach toward the sky as stark reminders of wildfires often set by human hands. ☹

Trees twisted by fire

“An eerie silence…are we alone in the universe?” ~ Paul Davies

Eerie Cosmos and Skies

In every season here in Eastern Washington, nature puts on various types of shows in the sky. Many people see faces within inanimate objects, especially in clouds. This is known as pareidolia, which simply adds to the EERIE factor!

Sometimes, a storm moves in, perhaps showing us a giant maw.

Spring storm cloud
Eerie mouth?

But, EERIE takes a front seat when the sun goes down…cue scary music…

During the northern lights, the skies look intense and a bit strange. Of course, seeing them in the sky anywhere is a treat, but the lights and other atmospheric conditions can add a bit of mystery to what we see.

cloudy night sky
Northern lights add odd color to the clouds

A little desaturation makes even the ordinarily stunning northern lights look a bit creepy.

corona shape northern lights

Do you see a ghostly face in the corona of this intense aurora?

aurora borealis

“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” – Sarah Williams

While attempting to see the comet (much less photograph it), try as I might, I kept aiming too low in the sky. One night was perfect (no clouds), but pine trees were in the way. I gave up, but my daughter sent me a shot of it from her vantage point near the ocean in the San Francisco Bay area. This is her image.

comet
Elusive Comet A3 ATLAS

What’s eerie about this story is fellow blogger Dawn kept trying to see the comet, too, and it took her friend’s daughter to simply point and shoot to capture it. Sigh. But there’s always light in the darkness!

Nature’s Eerie Secrets

Closer to home, the leaves and temperatures fall fast as Autumn begins to wane. An otherwise idyllic Autumn day along Lake Spokane, complete with color…

Yellow trees evergreens reflection
Across the lake

…begins its eerie transformation as winter approaches.

Eerie Mist on lake

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” – Hal Borland

This image below was taken au naturel! No filters, no monochrome. It was really this gray and dark at 10:30 am last week.

monochrome misty lake
Eerie mist adorns the Lake

“…Cold-hearted orb that rules the night, Removes the colours from our sight.” ~ Moody Blues

Even a beautiful green forest becomes eerie at night.

Suburban pocket forestEerie Forest path

Walking through Lower Antelope Canyon can be eerie if the light is just right.

The Eeriness of Antelope Canyon

“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” – Francis Bacon

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

Sharing for Cee’s Flower of the Day, Dawn’s Festival of Leaves, and Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday.

Eerie Shadow

Any guesses as to what this eerie reflection/shadow is?

November’s themes are found on my Sunday Stills Challenge Page. I will share more about my upcoming “two-week” challenges soon.

  • November 3: “Bucket List Images”
  • November 10: “Cozy”
  • November 17 – Nov 24–two-week color challenge “Auburn and Brown.”

I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme.

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126 comments

  2. As for eerie days in my town, I’m thankful for a clear sky and shinning, though blazing, sun.

    And as for the eerie nights, well it’s better to stay indoors and grab some hot beverage since nights will be long.

    Convey my thanks to your daughter for capturing the comet and many thanks to you also for this eerie but lovely captures 🙂

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  5. Your comments about the after-effects of wildfires resonated with me as we saw those effects so clearly when in California, especially the very recent fire near Lassen – so sad, and yes, eerie. And I especially love your misty lake shots.

    I’m double-dipping again with Dawn’s Spooky Monochrome Madness theme: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/gallery-seeing-halloween-in-black-and-white/ I’m not sure all my shots are eerie but a couple definitely are!

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  21. The mist over the lake is so eerie, Terri. They remind me of a few horror movies where the mist lays just above the water of a lake, usually on the edge of a dark forest where strange noises can occasionally reach ones ears and make you wonder if what you just heard was real. But so are those ghostly faces in the aurora photos. And cloud watching is great to do, especially when looking for shapes and faces.

    That shadowy figure of you holding a glass of water is one I would never have guessed had the answer not already been given in the comments section. Shadows are something I’ve had fun with when taking photos. They can be amusing as well as eerie.

    That’s a great shot of the comment. I only wish I’d have seen it, but skies were way too cloudy here.

    Happy Halloween!

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    • Thank you, Hugh, I had a bit of fun with the theme as you can see. This time of year, the morning sun shines through the transom window into the kitchen. When I drank a glass of water I happened to see the shadow and thought it looked weird, so I posed it for the shot. 🤣

      The aurora’s corona lights always reveal odd shapes. I never got to see the comet with my own eyes so I’m grateful for others’ photos.

      Do you get trick-or-treaters? We don’t. Too dark in our rural area. Happy Halloween 🎃

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  30. Wow, Terri, your photos get better and better. I can’t even say which ones I like best because they are all fabulous in their own way. I love how you weave in your story. Your post shines with professionalism and human interest. Just wonderful, my friend. 🙂 xxx

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  35. Hello Terri, What a great theme!
    You selected some wonderful photos.
    The forest that transitioned to the night hour was fantastic. And the misty mornings and evenings are wonderful examples of eerie and magical. Remember the movie The Fog??
    Great theme my friend. Enjoy your week!

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  47. Terri, I like the William Wordsworth quote – very appropriate for this post. How sad to see the devastation from last year’s wildfires and yes, sadly often the result of humans. I did not see a face in the aurora, but an angel-like figure instead. We may see the aurora tonight and several days this week – I may see and photograph them yet! The mist rising off the water is indeed eerie. Sometimes I have seen a heavy mist curling out of the Ecorse Creek in chilly mornings – very eerie looking indeed. Your area is beautiful as those trees erupt into color and the reflections are always equally as stunning.

    Here is my contribution to “Eerie” – eerie sounds more than eerie looking.

    When spooky sounds abound …

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    • Thank you, Linda! Both coronas have strange faces, but the first one looks angelic to some (me and you), but like Jabba the Hut (from Star Wars, according to my brother, LOL). I’ve enjoyed fall’s beauty this season, but it’s slipping away fast as rain and wind are doing their thing. Rising mist always looks a but creepy depending on our mood, right? Off to read yours 🙂

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  52. Great photos Terri. The burned landscape slowly heals itself, but it has a tortured look in the interim. I definitely see the face in the aurora. Very eerie. The lake photos are beautiful, but they do have that air of mystery to them. I quite like those B&W days where the color is washed out naturally, so long as they aren’t too frequent! And I like your mystery shadow too. Nicely done with that. Here’s mine this week: https://grahamsisland.com/2024/10/27/the-birds/

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    • Thank you, Graham! Great description…tortured look! It does look like that but so many trees spit out their seeds during fires to engender new growth quickly. I’m not a fan of fog and gray days, but once I saw that misty lake I had spend a few minutes checking it out. Glad you like the shadow, it was a surprise in which I staged a minute later.

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  55. Wonderful post for both challenges Terri! I love the fog and mist, but I don’t find it eerie. I love fog and mist for what it adds to an image. For me it’s a feeling of coziness. Now your images of the aurora are quite ghostly! Loved this post.

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    • Thank you, Tina! I was running errands last week and I saw the fog on the lake and hurried over to it for pics! There were some amazing autumn views and color, then parts of the lake were just gloomy and gray. And a surprise blue heron that I couldn’t capture fast enough! Thanks for linking, I’ll be over shortly!

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  59. It seems like we are all on the same wave length, with this light thing. Cosmic Photo (which posts tomorrow) has the theme “I Can See for Miles”. Ritva is hosting Lens Artist and hers is sort of about light (*well, that’s the direction I am going), and I am hosting Monochrome Madness for Leanne this week and my theme is “Spooky”, so you may want to tag on after it posts 8 AM Tuesday morning, my time.

    *spoiler

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  60. Fabulous photos, Terri, every one. Lots of eeriness, but I love it. What a planet. And the colors (or lack of color) always intrigues me – how the world turns black and white as the sun vanishes. Your photo of the fog reminds me of Oregon. 🙂

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