Undergrowth in the Snow on the Skokie Lagoons

While hiking along the frozen mud slopes of the Lagoons and scanning the barren

 and fog cloaked water for interesting landscape compositions, I was struck by 

the Pollock-like nature of the still green grass splattered over the fresh layer of white 

snow. I raised my lens vertically above the snow and framed-out any colors that did 

not fit the canvas well. I paid more attention to the undergrowth, and later, in a dense

 field of dead grass and broken trees, I crouched to ground-level and attempted at 

warping perspective and thus the viewer's perception of the size of the grass.

The artistic potential of undergrowth cannot be overstated. Especially autumn leaves,

 which themselves create both a portrait and a landscape because of their tones and 

complexity. Ansel Adams has a famous photograph of a leaf that illustrates this point 

well. He even developed it onto a door, somehow. There's something both intricate and

 minimal about the things we step on.

Winnetka

Taken in December 2012