Dear Friend,
This week has been filled with ups and downs for me but I am keeping my hope up. Whenever I begin feeling down about our current situation I remind myself of the very good things I also have in my life. Even the warmth of the sun can make me smile when I look at things this way.
The enclosed photo is another one from my time in Japan. As I mentioned before, my trip there was a challenge to myself and I certainly did struggle with everything from understanding road signs to figuring out what to eat. But overwhelmingly during that struggle I was happy because I stayed aware that I was keeping my head above the water line and accomplishing my goals.
One of these goals was to find and photograph many beautiful trees in the Hokkaido landscape. This photo includes a set of four that I found quite by accident. I was driving without navigation, following a huge billow of smoke that I could see far in the distance. I could not understand anything on the radio so was unaware that a volcano had erupted. Once I reached an area with a good view of the smoking mountain, I pulled over to watch. This gorgeous group of trees was silently waiting for my attention on the other side of the road.
You may be wondering why the trees and the field are white. This is an infrared photograph. The light that we can see with our eyes is only a small part of the light spectrum. Another part of it is what is called infrared light. I have a camera that is specially modified to “see” infrared light. This is what plants look like in infrared. It’s a reminder to us both that things can be looked at in many different ways. Most often there will be one that is joyous.
Fondly,
Athena
