Wide-angle landscape photograph of a clear turquoise lagoon in the Solomon Islands with hard coral formations visible under the shallow water, bordered by a lush rainforest shoreline under a dark, dramatic storm cloud dropping rain in the distance.

Hard brain coral (Platygyra daedalea)

Tempest Over the Coral Garden

The scent of incoming rain heavy with ozone cuts through the tropical air as a dark, bruising squall rolls over the open water.

David S. McMeans · Sony Alpha 7R V · Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II

Marovo Lagoon, Western Province, Solomon Islands

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Tempest Over the Coral Garden

The scent of incoming rain heavy with ozone cuts through the tropical air as a dark, bruising squall rolls over the open water. Beneath the surface, completely detached from the brewing atmospheric drama above, an ancient colony of hard corals glows with surreal clarity through the shallows. The turquoise lagoon catches a fleeting pocket of sunlight, illuminating the intricate limestone skeletons just before the downpour erases the boundary between the ocean and the sky.

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