Inadvertent Halloween

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October 19 found me wandering uphill through the woods adjacent to Stillhouse Canyon in northwest Austin, where I came across this partly decayed leaf of what appears to be a redbud tree, Cercis canadensis. I was fascinated by the way the white, reticulated portion of the leaf contrasts with the backlit orange that largely surrounds it. This being October, the color and rounded shape of the leaf, as well as the eaten-out pattern of white, reminded me of another rounded orange member of our native plant world that has come to be an emblem of Halloween, which not coincidentally is today.

For those interested in photography as a craft, points 1, 2, and especially 4 in About My Techniques are relevant to today’s photograph.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman