A Little Magic in the Eclipse
I took this picture outside one evening during a lunar eclipse. I’m not sure if the moon had reached a complete eclipse yet—it looked like there might have been just a little bit left—but it was close enough to make the whole night feel different.
The original photograph gave me the starting point, and then I began having some fun with it. I probably went through seven or eight revisions before everything finally settled into place. I’ve always liked working with planets, moons, and skies because they give the imagination so much room to wander.
Adding the water and the little boat gave it almost a storybook feeling, like someone had quietly sailed into a world that normally only exists in your head. Then the shooting stars came along and gave the whole thing that last little hoo-ya! I was looking for.
Sometimes a real moment gives you the photograph. Then imagination gives you somewhere else to go.
The Boy by the Stream
I don’t really remember taking this picture. It was a while ago, and sometimes the photograph survives more clearly than the day itself.
What I do remember is what I saw when I came back to it. The stream was already beautiful—the green forest, the light coming through the trees, the water moving through the middle of everything. But I wanted to give it just a little more life. Not enough to take away from the photograph, just enough to make you stop for a second and wonder.
So I put a boy there, sitting on that old fallen log with a simple wooden fishing pole, looking a little like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. Nothing modern. Just a kid, a stream, and some time to waste.
And the funny thing is, that scene doesn’t feel all that far away. It wasn’t so long ago that a boy really could have spent an afternoon exactly like this, and maybe somewhere, one still does.
That’s what I wanted in the middle of this picture—a small distraction, a little story, and something fun.
Because I like fun.
