A student in Colorado, looking for some sort of synthesis--the big picture, encompassing all the strangeness in the universe--but willing to settle for the philosophic or poetic lens.
Maybe it’s because it’s nearly summer. Maybe it’s because I finally finished my finals. Maybe it’s all a result of coincidence and random web browsing. Whatever the reason, I feel like filling my blog with warm, happy colors this weekend. What better place to begin, than with a fractal?
A Fractal Sunset
(look below to see it "set")
This is a combination of sets, each transformed to simulate ripples on a lake. One (the mountain range) is a Julia set, while the other (the sun) is the modified interior of a Mandelbrot set. Usually, when you see a Mandelbrot set or Julia set you see busy spirals or complex curves. But zoom in to the right area, or start with the right seed, and the curves can be calming rather than complex. I tried to capture a bit of the soft variation that arises in such a set by creating an animation. The animation is a result of slowly adjusting one of the coloring variables in the Mandelbrot set.
It looks quite a bit like something I haven’t had time to watch lately... the sun setting behind the foothills, reflected on a nearby lake:
Luckily, I’m now on summer break. That means I have time to do the things I enjoy, like watch sunsets, create fractals, and blog. So, on that note, stay tuned for more red, orange, and yellow fun!
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