I was driving through northern Massachusetts in early October,
searching for autumn color.
I had been driving alone for several days.
It was late in the afternoon that I came across this scene.
If you look closely at the very bottom of this photograph,
you’ll see I achieved
my goal:
I had located some color.
But that’s not what caught my eye, nor kept it.
It was the simple blue and white of the sky.
It was the swirling sweep of the clouds.
It was the irrepressible airiness of that crisp day.
And once again I was given the lesson I so easily forget.
When I plan too much what I’m going to photograph,
I stand in danger of being
less a photographer and more a documenter.
That sky did not call for documentation.
It called for appreciation.
Gratitude.
Even a little awe.
It still does.
