Wooden Duck Decoy on São Paulo Beach at Dusk

Orange low-angle light washes over a weathered wooden duck decoy resting on a rough-hewn shelf. The shelf sits on a sandy beach near São Paulo, where the dry season has stripped the dunes of moisture. Dramatic clouds stack high above, illuminated from below by the setting sun. A bolt of frozen lightning branches visibly across the sky, its jagged white veins cutting through the orange and purple haze. The wood grain of the decoy shows deep carving marks and peeling varnish. Behind the shelf, the ocean stretches flat and dark, meeting the horizon where the impossible electrical discharge hangs suspended in the air. The shadow of the shelf falls sharply across the sand, ending abruptly at the edge of a small driftwood log.