Dark Lines, Light Lines

Yesterday's violent storm flattened some of the reeds which now glistened in the bright evening sun. The light reflecting off the water was so harsh it was hard to look at.

Those reeds remaining upright are vertical and dark in the image, whereas those knocked down are diagonal, making a pattern which can be a little disconcerting. The eye wants to look at one or the other, but can't seem to take in both at the same time.

I tried to make the water surface even in luminance and colour, setting its overall brightness somewhere in between the dark and light extremes, in order to make it a neutral background for the pattern.