as seen: something new

© kjm

At an early newspaper internship, I worked with a photographer who'd occasionally let me ride with him as he looked for feature art. On a slow news day, a photo of a someone painting a picket fence, or kids playing in a sprinkler could make the front page. Whenever he saw someone doing something - anything, really - he'd turn the car around and say, "What the Hell was that guy doing?," in this excited, amazed tone. The funny part was, it was usually some very small visual happening, but he was both surprised and excited at the possibility.

Yesterday morning, while sitting at my desk in the usual Adobe-inspired haze, I saw this photo, above, and said, "What the Hell is that?" It's also a very small visual happening - shadows on my office wall, but for as many days as I've sat at my desk, shadows have never appeared that way. It's a combination of a sun through trees, a window shade, old plastic window insulation (the lines), and who knows what else. Anyway, very long story short, I love how much depth there is in the image, and it reminds me of some kind of Japanese print.

Mostly, I'm happy at the thought of being unexpectedly surprised.