Living in the fog
I am hesitant to make an analogy between my images and the fog of now that envelopes us, but I am going to go down that path with the intent of not insulting anyone or trying to sound preachy or political. That is not my intent. As I write this, I am still an educator at the American School here in Israel and as we are back in lockdown, back to virtual learning. The new strain of COVID is scary, daunting, and presents an unknown that helps to confuse the future. The vaccine has arrived, but some of us are hesitant. Some of us are not. The political situation in the US is also scary, daunting, and presents so much unknown about the future. This fog, this mist, that blurs the lines of what we think we see versus what is actually there, reminds me of this image I took during the summer in Odem which is located in the Golan Heights. Odem, even without the fog, is located in a region that too has its own blurring quality and is next to El Rom where one of the fiercest tank battles took place.
I look for beauty in what is easy to see and I look for beauty in what is smoothed out by the mist that nature sometimes provides. This old oak tree that sits in a field in Odem has seen a lot. Surrounded by a crown of thistles and rounded smooth by the cattle and goats that eat its lowest leaves, it persists and flourishes. Perhaps this tree is a sign, an allegory for something bigger and more remote... perhaps. Maybe we'll never know.
