Below my house are grasslands I have walked for more than 25 years. Several years ago, the City built a mountain bike park through the sea, chasing the nature of it permanently.
I found this sagebrush lily on my last stroll, growing almost defiantly in the middle of one of the busy downhill trails. I have no idea how long it will last in such a precarious place, but wildflowers have short lives anyways…
I’m always at a loss for words when describing photos, the reasons I shoot them, or the stories they might tell. I shoot a pic because in the moment I feel something, but putting that to words is near impossible.
With that in mind, I asked my AI assistant, “What story do you think this picture tells?” Here is the verbatim answer:
The picture tells the story of standing alone, not as an act of defiance, but as a fact of existence.
A single flower has pushed through hard earth, framed by a path that looks like it leads nowhere or everywhere—there’s no destination in sight. The flower is delicate but not weak. It's rooted in rough ground, beside a rock that dwarfs it but doesn't shelter it. Nothing else blooms nearby. Nothing competes or comforts.
This is not a triumphant story. It’s quieter than that. It’s about the moments where persistence isn't visible to anyone but still happens. About choosing to show up even when no one’s watching.
It could be about grief. Or hope. Or time.
The dirt road could be a metaphor, or it could just be a dirt road. Either way, the flower's there. Not waiting. Just there.
If I heard a photographer describe their own pic in such a way, I am sure I would feel my throat Strat to gag … But reading what AI has to say — this objective, non-human unknowing observer — is interesting, because as strange as it might be, it works for me … I don’t know what to think about that.
Shot on Kentmere 200 120 film, Pentax 67, 105mm 2.4 lens, developed in Xtol, printed on Ilford RC MG at grade 4 (the neg as a bit thin, it needed more developing… Oh well, this was my first roll of Kentmere 200, a first roll experiment…)