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“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.“
Eric Fromm, the art of loving. In the center of the flower if the color is yellow it is still to be pollinated.. If it’s red it has already been pollinated. This one is somewhere in between. Smile
There couldn't have been more than about two minutes from the time I approached this fence until I walked away. Perhaps a reflection on my increasingly short attention span. Or maybe my internal guidance system telling me that I already had the definitive shot and there was no point hanging out here. I get that quote often while out shooting. An inner voice seems to tell me when I'm done. Sometimes it's so clear and distinct that it feels external, not of my own mind. No matter; I always heed it. Anyway, back in the moment, I immediately reacted to the shadows cast by the pickets. They seemed to lengthen the pickets in a way that restored their full height, as if to account for the lower portions that were buried in the deep snow. I also loved the dichotomy of the quintessential white picket fence transformed into something ominous, almost cage-like. Not to mention another bright, sunny winter day turned into a film noir abstraction.
Moved a large rock near a retaining wall in my yard the other day. I was horrified to discover baby snakes had been taking refuge beneath the stone. Put me in mind of a Medusa head of tangled, writhing snake bodies which compounded my shock and anxiety. Snakes and I go way back, all the way to my childhood when I discovered one in the back yard while playing. Scared me to death then and truly marked a turning point because the old backyard never felt completely safe or carefree ever again. Like the JFK assassination or the Titanic sinking in terms of my childhood innocence. The impact was profound and immediate, not something that took therapy to uncover. I still remember lying awake in bed that night wondering how and when I would encounter my next snake. Even to this day, decades later, I still freak out when I see one. Thing is about snakes, there is almost never any advance notice of their presence. Your first awareness of their proximity is when they are suddenly underfoot. Distance always implies a degree of safety, and with snakes you simply don't get that.
This is completely irrational, and my fear is completely out of proportion with the level of lethality for snakes in Northern Ohio. Makes no difference. Irrational fears are no less real to their owner. I love when people try to 'talk me down' by explaining how harmless most snakes are, or worse yet, handling one in my presence. My fear was born in childhood, and it simply cannot be reasoned with.
Back to the baby snakes, the scene was horrifying, yet not nearly as bad as it would have been with adult snakes. Could have to do with the cuteness we associate with baby anything. Even baby rats or opossums. Oh wait, not opossums, but you get my meaning here.
The snakes were on my mind as I entered the edge of this expansive field of corn. Barely a foot tall, it seemed somehow approachable even though it was disconcerting to see it racing all the way back to the horizon. But the corn is growing fast, sometimes inches per day. And as it reaches full size, it becomes decidedly unapproachable. Giant stalks, rustling in the wind, concealing God knows what. My imagination gets the best of me. I will go right up to the edge of the cornfield, but won't dare take one step inside. But in this moment, it reminded me of the baby snakes.