July Iridescence 3
August 24, 2015
I was able to wade across the river to the other bank the last day in July. That’s always such a treat, especially when I can find interesting outcrops of Leptothrix discophora. I loved the coppery color of this patch, and I’ve learned through experience to take the first shot as soon as I’m aware of gasping. You just never know when that will be the defining image. I didn’t like the dead tree trunk there; it seemed to be blocking my clean view, but if I leaned forward a bit over it, I lost the copper color of the film. I just couldn’t get any closer and keep that color. The second photograph is just a crop of the first photo, and the quality isn’t as good cropped this much. For the third photo I sidled right up to the film but could only capture the iridescence from a different angle. Still beautiful stuff, but for me it lacks the attraction that caused me to gasp. . . . I wonder now if my gasp may have been due partly to the greater context beyond the patch of L. discophora. Maybe I needed to see the film amidst its more prosaic surroundings. If that’s the case, then I’m glad again to have taken that first shot as I did.
Romancing Reality 