Occasionally, not as often as I’d like, I take time to make photographs and share them with you. That’s what the photo prayer I sent out today is about.
Robert Frost said it better in his poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Like Frost, I know whose woods these are. They are on the leasehold of The Arden Club, our village’s cultural umbrella organization. Like Frost, others wondered what I was doing stopping by the woods. Even at 11:00 p.m., neighbors walked by, single men, one with his dog. I showed them the images in the back of my camera. “Oh,” says one, “it looks like the woods are on fire!”
Unlike Frost, I did not have miles to go and promises to keep. I had time to walk home, grab my camera and tripod, and return. I seldom do this. Having seen something beautiful, I rarely take time, not only to enjoy it, but to photograph it. Beauty is all around me, but usually I give it only a passing glance. I’m on some errand, and it must be important, because I don’t stop.
What do you think? Should I have made this scene more pastoral by getting rid of the wire, the mailboxes, and the trash cans? These woods — “Shady Grove” they are called — are home twice a year to hundreds of people enjoying live music and beer. The grove is small and surrounded by homes and a parking lot, whose lights we see in the photo. I found the scene compelling, not just because it was beautiful, but because I’d been there hundreds of times before without seeing anything special. Suddenly I found it beautiful, even with the trash cans.
Is everything beautiful in the right light?