It was an ordinary round river rock, dark in color and lodged among others of its kind. But something struck me about the way the Skokomish River current swirled around it.

To make the photograph I used a technique that I often use for capturing a running river on film; that is, I set the camera to take a long exposure, in this case about ten seconds. The long exposure averages out the river's surface detail, giving the current a sense of smoothness that your eye doesn't see at the time.

But enough of technique: what I especially like here are the reflections on the wet stone. There is a jewel-like clarity to the reflected colors of autumn maple leaves, the blue sky, and a dark bluff behind. I can almost make out a face in the stone...could it be a partially submerged alien?

Lee Rentz