This photograph combines two of my passions. First, I have always loved Claude Monet's impressionistic paintings of water lilies; his insights into nature reflected the fleeting moments that usually come and go without recognition or celebration. Second, I love capturing the exuberant nature of autumn in photographs; it is my favorite season for photography and I strive to create work that is not a clichéd view of fall.

When I came upon this lake one late afternoon, I tried photographing it from shore but soon realized that I really needed to get right in amongst the water lilies to get the best pictures. So I pulled on my waders and waded out as deep as I could go. With my old-fashioned large format camera on a tripod, I viewed the image upside down on the ground glass - thrilled with what I saw.

Monet's work, as a reference tucked into a distant corner of my mind, made this picture possible.

Lee Rentz