Café Philos: an internet café

This week, the thought occurred to me that some of you might like a glimpse of an aspen grove. The photo to the left is of a grove on Boulder Mountain, Utah, by Bill Atkinson.

One of the things that often distinguishes Atkinson's work is how close it comes to abstract art. This week's photo is not necessarily the best representation of that, but I think you can still see a bit of the abstract in it. If you go to his website, you will find many examples of photos that prove how surprisingly close nature can be to abstract art.

When the sun falls through aspen leaves, it can create a soft, peaceful light. I think Atkinson has captured that light in this week's sidebar art. The light also tends to make the leaves luminous, and I think you can see that in the young leaves close to the grove's floor. The only detail of this photo that I might dispute is the darkness of the far background. That might be literally true, but in my experience, an aspen grove is suffused with light and one does not notice much in the way of any darkness. However, I'm not criticizing the photo here -- merely pointing out a difference between how things might actually be, as they are in the photo, and how they often feel in life.