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Which is more beautiful, a sunset or a sunrise? In Mary Mattingly’s ongoing series First Light/Last Light, which we recently spotted over at Faith is Torment, you don’t have to choose. These beautiful crossed photographs consist of one image taken during the first light of the day on the Winter Solstice and another taken at the very last. Mattingly’s explains, ”I began taking these photographs to attempt to capture my experience with sublimity, while living alone in the desert of the American Northwest in the year 2001.” Well, these photographs certainly capture sublimity — they are incredibly simple, but there’s something satisfyingly circular, complete about them, in the way the two celestial movements intersect from the view of our planet. Click through to see some of our favorites from Mattingly’s series, and then head over to her website to check out even more of her work.

Image credit: Mary Mattingly