The jagged skyline of Recife looms in the distance, its man-made towers dwarfed by nature’s impressive display of storm clouds overhead. Our cruise ship neared Recife’s harbor just as the sun was setting behind the clouds, and I made this image just as a shaft of sunlight appeared within a sharply defined notch over the city. No matter how vast a city (Recife, Brazil’s sixth largest metropolitan area, holds nearly four million people), nature always holds the upper hand.