patterns revealed

Being a photographer can mean that you develop some strange goals. In my quest to photograph the sunrise every day for a year, there are bound to be days when the sunrise just isn’t that spectacular. Today was such a day! I know my mood was a little ho-hum so that didn’t help things either. I looked around my park for something new and interesting. It was warm and very calm and very clear. The forecast is for high winds, so this is the calm before the storm.

There weren’t even any dogs to take photos of!!! The older man who runs the track regularly showed up in a hurry as if the switch to daylight savings had him rattled. I actually love the time change – at least in the morning!!

My wanderings at the park took me to the honey locust tree just beyond the chain link fence. I have noticed these trees lately. They are native to my area and they seem to be a most sensible tree. They are one of the last to leaf out in the spring and one of the first to drop their leaves in the fall. That is the best way for deciduous trees to avoid the damage from late spring and early fall snowstorms! This honey locust is heavily laden with the familiar shiny dark-brown fruits. As the breeze picks up, there is a rhythmic chorus heard as thousands of seeds rattle within the drying pods interspersed with the sudden clatter, as a single pod breaks loose and falls to the ground.

So my goal is to find some way to photograph the beauty of this tree in winter that somehow shows the unique spiral pattern of the seed pods.

I used to dread winter with the approaching cold but now I embrace and welcome back the view of my trees without their cloak of leaves.