The transition from summer to fall is a lovely natural event, but it is also a vivid reminder that our seasons are fleeting. During the past few years I have delighted in creating leaf compositions that show the progression of time.

For this photograph, I gathered Poison Ivy leaves along a remote river in northern Michigan. Now, I am as allergic as the next person to Poison Ivy, so I worked extremely carefully with latex gloves; after making the photographs, I discarded everything that might have touched the leaves. And afterward I still itched - though the itching may have been my vivid imagination!

It wasn't until I printed this photograph in the darkroom that my male consciousness realized that the poisonous leaves vaguely echo the female form - hence the name. Poison Ivy is a reminder that beauty can mask potential trouble.

Lee Rentz