The Ones I Like List of 2009 – A Countdown [#3]
© 2009 Katya Horner
at the woods’ edge – There’s a light at the woods’ edge that often keeps us from going inside. It’s familiar and it’s safe and sometimes it’s pretty darn wonderful. It’s only those with the kind of fictional bravery of a Little Red Riding Hood who manage to enter the dark, unfamiliar environs of an mysterious wooded wonderland. “Wonderland?” you may ask. And I’ll answer, “yes.” I’ve worn the red cape — a rare surge of bravery – and I can tell you first hand –there’s magic in the woods. Let me take you inside.
Okay, I embellish a bit. I, without red cape and basket of goodies, was actually standing very still outside the mysterious, frighteningly beguiling unknown when I took this photo, but it did give me a rare glimpse inside, and what I found was dreamy and reassuring. There is, indeed, light within the woods and there’s movement and life. And every minute we stand paralyzed at the edge, we are saying “no” to the childlike explorer within.
I chose at the woods’ edge because somewhere between 2005 and today, I’ve apparently lost the part of me that is that intrepid explorer. I’m far more cautious with my photography. Gone are the pre-dawn shoots at a park, a cemetery, downtown. Gone… the “street” photography . I should be shooting everything. My name is slight clutter after all, and that’s how I roll. Or, at least that’s how I used to roll. Instead, today, when it comes to adrenaline-pumping photography, I sit very, very still…at the woods’ edge. I hope to change that in 2010.
[The second photo, when i ventured inside, just narrowly missed the top 10. On any given day, it could have made the cut.]
