Scene throughout the day- Zoe Wright

 




     On Saturday, January 25th, I went out four times throughout the day to take pictures of the nature around my apartment. At first, I struggled to decide what I wanted to photograph, but I ended up finding a bush across the street with some beautiful juniper berries on it. Growing up I was very close with a girl I babysat who was named Juniper, so this was very meaningful for me to find out they were juniper berries. I did some research and found out that while most people forage for juniper berries in the fall and summer, they can be foraged year-round in order to obtain the “winter taste”. In connection to the winter natural history, I noticed how quickly the light faded throughout the day. I took my first picture around 12 pm, when the light was so bright it was almost challenging to fully focus the picture on the berries. When I took my second picture at two, the light was almost glowing and brought the color of the bush and the berries out so beautifully. The color of the rich green pines were so bright and alluring. I took my third picture around five, and at this time of the day, the light was still present but much more faded. Although there is still a good amount of light in this picture, the branch does not pop out in the picture in comparison to the picture from 2 pm. I went out to check on the juniper bush once more after work around 8:30 pm, and it was so dark that I couldn't even find the berries without a flashlight. It was very challenging to focus on the berries, as there was very little light. I found myself thinking, how would this be different in the spring, or summer? I really enjoyed thinking about the juniper berries and finding such a lovely juniper bush in the most unexpected of places. From afar I might never have noticed how interesting that bush was until I looked closer to observe it. Although a lot of the trees and bushes have lost their leaves in the winter, juniper berries are resilient enough to survive the winter. It was fascinating to not only observe the juniper but also learn more about how they are foraged, where they grow, and their strength.



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