Two Suns
New Fine Art Photography
Star Wars fans will remember the two suns of Tatooine and the look on the face of a young Luke Skywalker as he stares into the dual sunset. It’s easy for us to look back at the scene now, to understand it better. Maybe the two suns are the light and dark side of the force, two forms calling out for our attention. The two luminary bodies also set the stage for a galaxy with which we are not familiar. A galaxy far, far away and all of that. As viewers we don’t know exactly what Luke is thinking, and neither are we supposed to. Sometimes it seems like I don’t even know what I’m thinking.
What I love about the scene with Luke, is that to him, the suns are normal. He is used to the beauty of two stars setting together over the desert landscape. At the same time, this foreign, exotic landscape for us feels like a prison to him. Not even the two suns can change his mind. I suppose there is a lesson there. For all of us who want to walk the dunes of a fantastical place, there are locals looking to get off world to where we live, to Planet Earth.
Earth has sand dunes and deserts, it even has sunsets, but it only has one sun. It was our one star that stood out so brilliantly on an early morning archery hike in the elk woods of Montana, or so we thought. When the sun rose over a scree field and lit up our glassing slopes, it didn’t feel much like Earth at all. It felt more like another planet not so far away as Tatooine; Mars. From the deep red sky and warm mountains in the distance to the thin atmosphere in our lungs and barren rock beneath our feet; it was us who walked on an alien land. For a moment, it was easy to imagine us on approach to Olympus Mons, walking the foothills of the largest mountain in our galaxy. It was a scene Luke Skywalker might have found enchanting, and with one sun, it might have made his future path that much more clear.
Whether it’s two suns over Tatooine, the Martian Sky over the mountains of Montana, or a Martian Sun over the foothills of Mars, there is someone out there who wants to jump to light speed just to see it. Fortunately for me, for all of us, there is a new sunset and sunrise every day. We just need to get out there and see it. No hyperdrive needed.