The other morning while I was out for a walk, I saw something totally unexpected. It was a very simple scene, sparse, elegant and beautiful, like a Japanese screen painting. As I walked along I noticed the long, high arc of water from a lawn sprinkler as it rotated across a large manicured lawn. As the thin sheet of spray from the lawn sprinkler rotated across the lawn, it left the shade and entered the sun, and the water was backlit by the low golden morning sunlight shining through the large trees in the background. For just a moment, the thin spray of water became a living, moving, larger-than-life screen painting of the trees, backlit by the golden sunlight shining through the leaves. Of course I didn't have my camera with me, and even if I had, I would have missed the shot. But that moment is one of many that my mind has snapped a picture of, just as if I had a camera in my hands. A momentary flash of beauty, seen in a passing moment, made special because it was so unexpected. These unexpected moments are all around us, we just need to open our minds.
The assignment for the week of 8 - 14 August 2011 is "Unexpected." Please upload your images into the "Unexpected" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no-later-than 14 August 2011.
I'll look forward to seeing your images.
Keith
