A topic I continually touch on is the difference between our concepts, versus what might be closer to being real.

I’ve been working a whole lot this fall on frost and frozen dewdrops; I’ve gone out on cold mornings all bundled up, and I think, “I’m going to work with the leeks.” We had an accidentally very large bed of leeks, which grew quite well, and they were still in the ground through several hard frosts. The textures and shapes have some great photographic possibilities. I think I’ve done some good work with those leeks. Today I thought I should put one of those up as a photo of the week.

When I started going through those morning sessions, it turns out I really did a lot, quite a lot, more work, and more good work, with the Siberian iris leaves in the frost and frozen dew. Not as much the leeks, in spite of my ideas about that work. And most of that work was based on some ideas too — abstract composition. Some of those are good.

But this one somehow broke my heart with quiet beauty, not the hard-edged abstraction I was working. I really feel something from this one. So, not leeks, not abstract — a more “normal” ordinary composition. Beauty as subtle as flowers in bloom happens all through the year, any moment.

This print is for sale here.