The more open we are to sensation (the active engagement of all of our senses), the better we can appreciate the broad range of emotions our surroundings can elicit. It is one thing to be awed by dramatic vistas, bright colors, brilliant light and charismatic subject matter. It is quite another to find harmony, solace and spiritual transcendence in comparatively mundane, muted environments such as this. Perhaps it is a function of my advancing age, but increasingly I find resonance with such peaceful settings, a resonance that is akin to what I feel when enjoying the Impressionistic music of Debussy or paintings by Monet.

At such moments, though the visual stimuli are subtle, the emotions are powerful; I am not awed by spectacle, but drawn into my environment and a part of it. I am not a spectator, but a participant. I am at one with the universe, the Web of Life.

Although the visual contrast might be low, colors, fine details and textures can be very much alive upon close inspection. With proper care, the camera is capable of capturing the richness of such scenes, resulting in images that seduce the viewer into moving in close and exploring their every detail. Other examples along these lines are #1109, #1029, #0943, #1065, #0710 and #0915. There are many others.

As a technical side note for those who have a little knowledge about photo equipment, I captured this image with a 36-megapixel Nikon D800E using a Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 lens. I did not use HDR processing or stitching; this is a single exposure. At the time of this writing, I am just beginning to explore the capabilities of that lens/camera combination. The fine detail and tonal subtleties are astounding, giving the impression of "presence" -- the sense that one is there, inside the illusory space of the image, rather than simply looking at it.