Lighten Up

This photo was taken as the sun was coming up in Washington DC in very late November 2011

The location was very near a large construction site where there is usually a lot of foot traffic.

The "Take It!"  was one of my slow it down moments as I was in a rush to catch a cross walk signal to make it across a street that is almost impossible to J walk (I do not know of any factor that is officially given to the J walkability of any given location, but I know it is there working in the back of my mind all the time. Much of the rating is based on day of the week and exact time of day. Morning is a bit different than the afternoon as one is dealing with caffeine, and fatigue in the evening, both of which affect drivers as well as pedestrians). 

All the above being said, I had an open space on the sidewalk and there was a leaf almost by itself.  For some reason its aloneness made me look at it more closely.  The fact that it was curled and not yet tattered from wind blown tumbling made me appreciate its perfection.  I took two shots of it from above, which I have shown below the major photo, then thought I might just bend over and try to get the camera down there at eye level with it.  My bend over was not pretty so made it as quick as I could and came up with this very unusual picture. 

"The After Take".  I took some shots of another leaf that was wet and stuck to the sidewalk.  Talk about something not being the same;  there was a comparison available, but it was huge.

You may have gathered by now that I enjoy this kind of picture taking. When I have managed to be presented with an unusual shot I like to talk about it and get immediate feed back.  I do consider the photo circumstances to be the form of a gift, and I am fortunate enough to avail myself of them.

The reaction to the photo has been the immediate like of it.  The accidental details are taken in  and I am treated to the joint sharing of the joy of the image.  The sunlight reflecting off of the grate was certainly not planned and the touch point shadows with their tiny addition of detail, just plain old fashioned wonderful. 

Many thanks for taking the time to share in the joy of this shot.

Below are the prefacing shots as mentioned above.