Leaflight

Most of the pictures I take, and then share here on Weekly Fifty, are pretty straightforward: what you see is, as the saying goes, what you get. I don’t much dabble in abstract artwork and my images generally don’t present much in the way of deeper meaning, nor are they designed to promote introspection, contemplation, or much else aside from a passing “Hey, that’s kind of neat.” I do this to learn and grow as a photographer, and help me keep my camera in my hands and off the shelf where it might otherwise sit collecting dust. But every now and then something shows up in front of me, and then, susbequently, in front of my camera lens, that does prompt me, and now you, the viewer, to think just a bit deeper or perhaps use your imagination. That’s what we’ve got going on here :)

This is, on one level, naught but a simple leaf. Nothing much else…just a plain, simple, ordinary leaf. And if that’s all you take away from this picture, great! No worries at all; feel free to go about your day. All is well.

But perhaps there is something more here. Take, for example, the fact that the leaf is not fully intact. It’s broken and bowed, drawn downward under the weight of the passage of time as it is no longer capable of pointing upwards to the life-giving sun in the sky above. And whither the sun? It is obscured behind a veil of gray clouds, as one can deduce by the even, diffused lighting throughout the frame. The colors of the leaf, no longer healthy and green, are instead shades of orange and red, a brilliant beauty that only shines forth in the fading final portion of the leaf’s short life.

And yet all is not despair, for the leaf is not dying but rather departing, taking flight on wings to the great adventure that lies ahead. It’s not sighing with defeat, but soaring with victory while leading the leaves behind it into the unknown that lies ahead, soaring high above a stormy sea of green and white.

Or perhaps not. Sometimes a cake is just a cake, and a leaf is just a leaf. I try not to wade too deep into the deep end of the pool when it comes to interpreting visual art, even my own, but I do think it’s fun to dip a toe in these kinds of waters every now and then.