Where do You Getaway?

There are days when we just need to get away from our lives. 

Where do you get away?

Where is your imagined getaway? Your real one?

For me, when I can't physically get away, I like to imagine a quiet tropical beach with a gentle cool breeze, blue water, white sand, and a jungle behind me.

On days when I can physically get away, I go to the woods.

Ever since I was little, the woods have been my place for reflective and calm solitude. A place where my brain is filled...seeing the familiar and wanting to know better the new. I'm always happily overwhelmed with the beauty of how nature presents itself.

I must admit...in the woods...it feels like there must be all kinds of beings that I can't see.

I'm not 100% sure magical creatures exist...I just like to think they do.

Design in Nature

Beautiful Pink Mushroom

Does your eye move through this photo or stay in one place?

Today, when hiking in the woods on Long Island, I was reminded of my beloved Design 101 class with Linda Kemnitzer at the University of Kansas. Through exercises and assignments, Ms. Kemnitzer secured in us the elements of design:  point, line, plane, flow, color, etc.

As I was photographing a wide variety of mushrooms in the woods, I thought of those elements. The mushrooms became the point of the photo. I worked to set up a plane where the lines created by the natural materials would draw the viewers eye around the piece.

It was fun.
Now, I'd like to know the names of all the mushrooms. : )