Tree of Light

"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary."  ~Aaron Rose

I've already noted that it's been raining a lot here lately. On this morning, I arrived on campus just as the rain was stopping. I had hoped for clearing skies, and I thought that if I just PLANNED for it to happen, and went where I wanted to go, the light would come.

I got out of the car with umbrella in hand, but it turns out I didn't need it. I saw what the sky was doing: the clouds were breaking. And so I headed straight for the red elm behind the Arboretum's pavilion and waded through a field of high, wet grass behind it to stake out the vantage point I wanted, looking back into the light.

Sometimes the most difficult thing about photography is just arriving in time to watch the show. Other times, it is waiting for the shot you want. Can you stand, fidgeting, in wet grass, just watching the light?

I was rewarded for my efforts with two things: one, this shot (and a whole bunch more that look a lot like it, but with slightly different angles and light in each); and two, a pretty decent case of chiggers behind my knees, from walking in the tall grass.

Oh how I suffer for my craft . . .  ;-)  The chiggers started to itch pretty badly around 6 pm that night, and livened up again to wake me up scratching at 3 in the morning. But hey, guess what . . . it was WORTH it! (Note to self: add a scythe and some liquid hand sanitizer to camera bag. Oh, and we just might need a bigger boat . . . um, I mean, a bigger camera bag.)

I realize, as I have been spending much more time thinking seriously about my life these days, and about the lives of those I hold most dear, that two of the things that matter most to me personally are to love and be loved, and to be surrounded by beauty. These are things I seek out. And they are things that money can't buy.  And so the song to accompany this image is Stevie Nicks, with I Sing for the Things (the link is to a rare piano demo recording).

See also: Tree of Life.