Hanging By A Thread

I rather expect that there have been times, and still are, this year especially, when you have felt that everything in the world is hanging by a thread. It's not often when I can find a subject to photograph that so perfectly represents an emotion as this one does. Eight years ago after my first photo workshop I realized that I would never again be able to look at the world the in the same way. I realized that a really good photographer has to look for and see the unusual, the things that most people might overlook or not take the time to see. Often the opportunity to catch those moments in a photograph are fleeting. In fact when you look at the capture information of most images, the time it took for the camera's shutter to open and close, allowing light to fall on the sensor or film, is in fractions of seconds, quite literally a moment captured in time that will never be the same again. I look for things to photograph that tell a story and create a feeling or mood that I want to share with others. So yesterday when I saw this tiny leaf, quite literally hanging by a thread, I had to get a picture of it. And that image had to include its tenuous hold on the spider's thread because those two together spoke volumes to me about our life and times. There are far too many people whose lives and fortunes are literally hanging by a thread because of a raging virus. Even the future of our country and its Constitution seems to be tenuous as a defeated President refuses to recognize his defeat and by his words and actions is putting the safety of this country in jeopardy. Hanging by a thread is a fearful place to be. It requires a combination of action and faith to be overcome, and sometimes that isn't enough. And when it isn't, there has to be acceptance and the willingness to move forward and make things better.