urban jungle

We do not, of course, have large triffids growing up the back of the house in Highland Park - but the leaf reflections make it seem so. We brought all the house plants out on the deck during the summer, hoping that this would prevent them drying up an withering indoors: of course, it was so damp and humid that they've flourished (and, if we're not careful, stand in dishes of water that are a breeding ground for mosquitoes of horse-fly dimensions). And it's still warm enough to eat out, and the candles and light have been illuminating the back of the house quite strikingly.

The candle illumination falling on Alice's hand is a wonderful example of a Barthean punctum - one of those photographic details that pierces one with its poignancy (that's me hitting the alliteration button as I paraphrase Camera Lucida, seemingly) - but that would miss its force completely were it to have been an intended point of focus from the get go. Because of course I was concentrating on the giant leaves (propping camera on deck fence, taking alternative view with it resting on plant pot, etc - the tripod is in my car and I couldn't be bothered to go fetch) - and not at all sizing up what else might be illuminated.