Figure 1 – The sun breaks into the Pine Barren. (c) DE Wolf, 2017, Stow, MA.

I posted last week about Light in the Forest, but I’d like to pick up the theme again with today’s Figure 1. It captures that moment when the sun suddenly floods the pine barren, and you witness it like a mini-Stonehenge as if caught between two giant limbs. It is, needless-to-say, a photographic challenge in terms of dynamic range. In the moment you squint at it, and all the grey tones seem to collapse into nothingness. There is the sensation of fuzzy darkness. And most curiously there is the sense of silence. How is it that the suppression and collapse of tonality tricks the senses into feeling that you are sound deprived as well.

My mind immediately raced to images of the so-called Manhattan henge effect. I never expect less than magic in these particular woods. For some reason there are very few birds on this side of the forest. It is as if they defer to this fundamental magicality. Magic exists, expresses itself most strongly, where nature and our minds resonate.