Changing terrain

Just looking at this image, would I have ever known this was a shot of a magnolia tree? Not likely! Even seeing more of the tree, I would still be surprised if I recognized it. This shot is complicated by the presence of the severed limb, providing a very different visual field. That’s part of what appeals to me about the image - it encompasses more than one thing.

The presence of these two different elements - different textures, different colors, different shapes - adds to the story of the shot. The arduous detail of the bark, with wrinkles and discolorations, gives way to the smooth area of the lost limb. They are almost in balance but there remains some incongruity.

I can see this as a topographic map of some imaginary landscape in miniature. I can imagine cultivated areas and wild lands, even great walls or moats surrounding habitable lands. Quite a flight of fancy! Or I may decide the truth tells a different story, one of growth and perhaps disaster and impending decay.

In either case, I am free, through the magic of my lens, to create alternative views of small elements of my world. It feeds me and helps me cultivate equanimity to deal with other, less controllable aspects of our current reality.