Spring In These Woods by auntietk
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Oregon Coast
May, 2016
One of my favorite poems (NOT written by me!) is by a man who lived most of his life in Washington State, near Mount Saint Helens.
To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
“I have seen spring in these
Woods,” will not do – you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.
~ John Moffitt ~

Comments (20)
A beautiful clear capture of these tips and a great poem too. 😀
Your photo describes the poem perfectly. I just love them both, and I can relate so well to those words.
wonderful poem and great capture
I can almost smell the pine :)
Beautiful. One of my favorite scents in all the world is fresh evergreen.
A perfect pairing. Seems you've brilliantly followed his advise. I've never seen these look more lovely.
Amazing capture Tara. God bless.
Excellent capture and nice find with the poem
You've captured the spirit of the poem very nicely, Tara. When I travel, I tend to first capture the large, obvious things I see in front of me & then find myself drawn to the seemingly infinite number of little things like this that can be just as beautiful & awe inspiring. You excel at capturing those little things...
I really love this beautiful shot. Lovely and very peaceful, like the poem. :-)
beautiful colors and composition
This fits with the words so perfectly - a lovely shot, Tara!
I concur with 'photosythesis' - he took the words right out of my mouth, then again I could never, ever phrase it as well, as only he can...
*** on the other hand - this reminds me so much of Christmas time at my Aunty Gretel's big garden nursery in Berlin, where I grew up [before migration to OZ] and we all helped creating decorations with this type of fir tree pines (?) The smell of those lingers and are still so memorable and delicious in fragrances, it conjures up a wonderful time of the year for me...
To look at this green and say, “I have seen spring in these Woods,” ...
and I like to add : Winter as well
- thanks for the memories Tara, BTW - it's also a fabulous image...
I like this!!
what a splendid photo! I like the poem, too.
Very nice!
There is a real advantage to coming late to one of your postings...the comments of others say so many things I often sense but rarely say. Love the sharp needles, the budding cones and the black background. This would look good on the wall...if we had any open space:-)
I've had long conversations about this very thing: often in two differing accents and two variations of English. To see a thing is often not enough, as seeing is just the first step into the recognition of something, and not the recognition itself. That's captured beautifully here and in the poem accompanying it. I suspect these are also mughoe pine needles: I could be wrong, but a part of what makes me say that is the fact that sawflies lay their eggs on such plants and their larvae often spend their early days munching away at succulent spring-growth needles: four per needle. If you disturb them, they pull a Las Vegas showgirl routine, spitting out little beads of sticky, pine-scented resin to ward off anyone who might decide to eat them...no one ever does, but as a kid, I liked watching them dance! This image brought all of that back, though no dancers are visible. They're there in spirit, I suspect, which is better for this plan than such little people being there in reality! I love the details and the whole feel of this image
Beautiful capture....
You got great comments, you spurred a lot of personal responses. And the poem you quoted captured something essential in your art, which some of your fans picked up on. Claude said it perfectly, among others. The closeup is complex: The bunch of needles and buds on the right is so very in-focus, w/ strong line, hue, highlights (little dots of light), etc. But then you have this bunch in front, out of focus---like we're peeking into a meeting or gathering, and this bunch is in our way. And bunches in the background. And lots of black shadow, making strong contrast. Beautifully seen and postworked, a very intimate glimpse with beautiful detail. Yes, you shapeshift to get pics, and it shows here beautifully.