What Do You See?

Every so often, I would take a picture that I really like but do not know how to explain. A thousand words lost within the colors, curvatures, lights and shadows. Emotions buried ocean floor deep under a paper thin leaf. A picture I stared at ... for hours but failed to categorize or file into any albums taken from the trip.

I took this picture at Zion National Park at one of the bus stops during our hike day. The place was busy. A young boy next to me jumping up and down on that rock under a loving and watchful eyes of his dad. My teammates were busy refueling and taking care of business. Under all the commotions, here I was standing there looking at this one yellow leaf on a giant red rock that caught my eyes.

Afraid that the boy would jump his way and stomp on this leaf in the process, I quickly took two pictures and walked away. Never mind those curious eyes that were beaming at me. Ignoring the wondering faces silently questioning what I saw and why I took pictures of 'a' leaf on 'a' rock.

Exactly .... What did I see?

After the trip, I came back, worked on hundreds of pictures, adjusted, uploaded and shared them. All ... except this one. I tried to work on it. I made a few changes only to revert back and leaving it alone. I can't even bring myself to put the digital watermark on it.

Yes, the story of how the picture was taken is told. But, I am still unsure about what 'I' am trying to convey when I pressed the shutter. So.....

"What do you see?"

5:30AM

Couldn't sleep ... first morning on my hiking trip to Zion National Park. So, there's nothing else to do but to get up and walked outside searching ... for something to inspire me. It's still dark outside. Lightly breeze of clean and fresh mountain air. Sitting on a wooden chair out on the back porch gazing up. It's a beautiful night ... sliver moon surrounded by bright stars.

Inspired, but unequipped to properly portray the beauty seen and imagined ... I decided to wait for the sunrise, hoping for another moment to inspire me again. Sitting there ... feeling the wind gently brushing by. Watching the sky slowly painted with lighter shades of blue. I saw, the Pampas Grass nearby dancing and singing with the wind.

Perfect, I thought to myself. I finally found the texture that I could use to properly relay the beautiful elements currently surrounding me.

Focusing on the liveliness of the Pampas Grass, with the glowing and out-of-focus moon in the background ...

With every second passing by, the sky slowly changes colors and getting brighter ... and lighter.

Waited for this perfect moment to capture the 'wind breeze'. Can you hear it? Just listen ... carefully ...

Closing out with the simplistic beauty in the 'stillness' ... Morning finally arrived. Time to get moving and starts my adventures for the day. First order, breakfast ... here I come!!!