Friday, December 28, 2012

One bright tree in the middle of the afternoon

Boom
Somewhere on the 401, somewhere in Ontario
October 2009
Thematic. Warmth. Here.




















Please forgive the inelegant composition. I was a passenger in the front seat of the car on a relentlessly grey day that had reduced the world outside to a seemingly endless stream of monochrome dreariness. My wife was driving along the 401 and in my attempt to distract myself from this, I was idly fiddling with my camera and seeing what I could capture.

Not much, apparently, but this brilliant tree in an otherwise unbroken stand of green seemed to stand out, and in doing so practically begged for a shot as we zipped past.

In the end, the photo wasn't really worth keeping. But I kept it anyway, because that almost otherworldly color seemed to hold a message for me. That no matter how grey the world might have seemed at that moment, I still had to keep my eyes open for the flashes of unexpected brilliance. Because it was these little surprises along the way that would ultimately spark my ability to re-engage and move on from what at the time was a pretty major hit to my soul.

Looking back, time has done little to fix the soul part - loss changes you, period. But at least I'm able to appreciate the warmth of scenes like this. And all others like them that now fill my days. Color. Warmth. Life. Sounds good to me.

Your turn: Can color inspire you?

1 comment:

MorahMommy said...

You were trying to distract yourself from the dreariness and not your wife's driving, right? ;-)

I love it when there is a burst of colour in the trees. You've captured it beautifully!

Xo