My first instinct is to simplify compositions to a few well-chosen elements. Look at my body of work and you can see how I edit the world, cutting the chaos of sights around us to bring out some special or dramatic feature.

But, in this photograph I chose to let nature be nature: letting chaos reign in a show of exuberant color, line, and textures. The rocks are blue because they are in the shade and are colored by the sky, not the sun. The maples and birches of the hillside across the river are in the sun - and their brilliant color reflects on the stream's surface. The stream is moving, blending the colors. There are fallen leaves and patches of sun and oh-so-much to take in that you can't do it all at once.

Location: Ocqueoc Falls of the Ocqueoc River in Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

Lee Rentz

lee@leerentz.com