Faith is for

I don’t know what I expected to see on a recent walk around Theta Pond, but this was certainly not it :) Normally I just see the usual–ducks, geese, cypress trees, and magnolia flowers, but on a stroll by the pond earlier this year I happened to come across this painted rock nestled among some tree roots. Initially I thought it said “Faith is” and it reminded me of one of my favorite verses from the Bible.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Turns out there was more to the rock than I realized, and upon closer inspection I saw another word: for. For what? I don’t know. I could have picked it up and read the final word or words, but instead I chose to leave it as-is and live with a bit of mystery. I can think of a lot of statements that would finish what this rock started, so rather than reading what this person intended I prefer to leave it open to my, and your, interpretation.

I also wanted to take a picture :)

This shot wasn’t all that tricky, except that composing it presented just a bit of a challenge given that it was so low to the ground. I used Live View on my D7100, but since that camera lacks a flip-out screen I had to contort my body at a weird angle just to see what I was looking at and adjust the composition accordingly. I shot a few frames at f/1.8 and then a couple at smaller apertures just for good measure, and found that this one at f/2.5 presented the best combination of sharpness and background (as well as foreground) blur. The 2.8 image would have worked fine too, but I liked the slightly extra bit of bokeh afforded by a slightly wider lens opening.

I have been thinking about the answer, or possible answers, that could finish this inscription and this experience, though brief, was a good reminder that photography can sometimes take your mind to some really good places.