Twinkle, twinkle, little star
I know right well what you are
Hanging on the leaves so near
Like a diamond you appear
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
I know right well what you are.
Or so I think, as the sun lights up the water drops on my backyard flame bush. Intermittent rain showers mean that these twinkles won’t last long. Something will ruin the effect: another rain shower, evaporation, or the sun going behind a cloud. I hustle to get my camera.
But when I look at the resulting photos, I find once again that my camera and I see different things. My view of these leaves is informed by knowing what I’m looking at: drops of water on a leaf. But the camera seems to see the Oneness of Being. The resulting Dali-esque image evokes the Wicked Witch of the West’s just-in-time demise. Maybe that makes sense: Both subjects are green and wet.
We see what we expect to see, I guess. I always thought they were round. This is more like tears. Or, umm, sagging flesh.
Jim T
Jim T – I think they are (or can be) round when they’re just sitting on top of a leaf, but as they start to head south, they elongate. And yes, they look just like sagging leaf flesh.