The Unplanned, the Unseen and the Unexpected

Water beads on leaf, Valley of the Moon, Sonoma, CA

The property of water that causes it to bead into these beautiful little domes is called cohesion. Water molecules are polar, like magnets. They carry a positive charge on one end of the molecule and a negative charge on the other. So water molecules attract one another and bunch together into droplets like the ones in the photograph above. Each drop is like a tiny jewel and each is unique. Some seem to be perfect spheres while others are irregular blobs. The large blob at center acts as magnifying lens allowing us to see the veins on the surface of the leaf. At the upper portion of this large droplet we can see a perfect reflection of the sun and the gentle curve of the sky above. In these tiny beads of water, clinging to a decaying leaf of a tree that lies on a lichen speckled rock, is the image of a ball of burning gas 93 million miles away. Fire and water. Earth and stone. A fleeting glimpse of those elements that make life possible and a stunning reminder of the fragility of that life. When we are at our best, human beings cling to each other and reflect a different kind of light. We can, but don't often tend, to bead up into beautiful gem-like spheres. But we are not water molecules, and this photograph was not taken as a metaphor. It was a chance encounter with hidden beauty taken with a macro lens. The unplanned, the unseen and the unexpected often make for the most uncanny of photographs. And this one turned out to be the most surprising of the day. 

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