Tourists watch the sunrise and pray outside a church on the summit of Mount Moses, near the city of Saint Catherine, in the Sinai Peninsula, south of Egypt, December 9, 2015. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

“The power of nature”. Magma, ash and gas erupt from Mount Etna in December 2015, rising to a height of several kilometres. Winner: Nature. (Photo by Giuseppe Mario Famiani/SIPA Contest)

Locals harvest their potatoes as Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash in Karo, North Sumatra province, Indonesia on August 10, 2020. (Photo by Sastrawan Ginting/Antara Foto via Reuters)

Mount Sinabung continues to spew thick smoke into the air in Karo, North Sumatra on October 30, 2020. (Photo by Albert Ivan Damanik/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Villagers salvage their belongings from their damaged home at Curah Kobokan village in Lumajang on December 8, 2021, after Mount Semeru volcano eruption that killed at least 34 people. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

Fire runners in devil costumes gather to enlighten their stick mounted firecrackers during the “Correfocs” at the “Fiesta Major” of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain on April 15, 2023. (Photo by Matthias Oesterle/Alamy Live News)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

Pigeon fancier Yonisbel Santana poses for a photo at his rooftop in Havana, Cuba, May 18, 2021. Havana's pigeon keepers crane out of a window, intently watching the grey birds take flight. Mostly staying indoors due to the country's worst outbreak of COVID-19 since the coronavirus pandemic began in March last year, Cubans are increasingly breeding pigeons as a form of escape. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)