What is it that draws our eye to a scene, that leads us to believe there may be the potential for a photograph? It can be any of an almost unlimited list of things, and we’re each different so that list might differ by person. But one item in many of those lists might be texture.

My father and I were hiking along a new trail in a familiar park, taking in the scenery that was new to us, enjoying this little bit of exploration. This particular trail was changing elevation more than some, and the trail was a bit narrow in places. Thankfully, we were almost completely alone. In fact, we only once ran into anyone else, and strangely enough we ran into each other from opposite directions but both decided we’d gone as far as we wanted for that day, so we all said hello and goodbye and turned around heading back the way we’d come.

At some point I’d noticed something out of the corner of my eye, just a little ways off the trail. It was a set of huge lichen encrusted boulders with a small tree growing right up against them. I can’t say exactly what it was that initially drew my eye to this, but when I saw the scene I knew it had potential, and I knew some of that potential involved the fascinating textures of the tree and stone.

I don’t know if this particular image realizes the potential of the scene, but it gives an idea of what I was seeing and thinking at the time. There was a large background boulder with lots of green moss or lichen growing all over it. Closer in was a boulder, also with some lichen, but the stone had a bluer cast to it. And finally, there was the tree growing against the boulder, as if hanging out with a friend. It was also covered in lichen.

Each of these elements has different textures, and yet there is some similarity as well. And I think that’s part of what drew my eye without me realizing it at first. I saw some patterns, and when looking closer I saw textures that melded into one another but also had their own unique characteristics. And I wanted to capture that.

I suppose I’d consider this a photographic sketch, similar to what I’d mentioned in a previous post about exploring a stretch of creek. Sketches are when I’m exploring a scene, when I know something’s there but maybe I’m not quite in the right mind yet to figure out exactly what that is. I will usually try to take a step back and photograph the larger area to give me more context when looking back at the images, but in this case I didn’t do that. I probably should have. But even so, this image is enough to push me to return to that part of the trail, to try to find this scene again, and to spend a little more time exploring its possibilities.

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