Leaves On The Water

Today, with the advent of smart phones, it seems everyone is a professional photographer. What a photograph represents to the photographer, though, I believe is what separates photographer as artist, and photographer as a dispassionate passerby.  I am by no means a photographer, but when I see something that resonates an idea, inspiration, or feeling, I want to capture that moment, be it through music, writing, or a photograph. The photograph I've included here is not what many would think to be an image worthy of drawing attention to. That is until I can explain why this picture was captured. The first day of December, 2017, I was kayaking through the marshes and small bays behind Ocean City, MD. With a turning tide, I noticed quite a bit of leaf litter meandering on the surface. If asked what sights a typical day on the water brings, a leaf probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. A leaf is formed on land. The fact that this leaf, along with a myriad of other leaves, pine needles, and driftwood found its way into the coastal bays where I was paddling resides as a visual case in point that what is produced on land, ultimately finds a way into our waterways. Think on that for awhile.

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-W.R. Weiland