In Wildness is the Preservation of the World

Pioneering color photographer Eliot Porter quoted Thoreau for the title of his 1962 monograph, In Wildness is the Preservation of the World. This image reminded me of Porter’s work so I referred to his book in the title.

I have often tried to capture in a photograph the wild tangle of natural order. I think this photograph does that. Look past the tangle of branches, leaves, and undergrowth to see the order of nature. Not the neatness we humans look for but the order from chaos that is natural order. This photograph was made about a week after the peak of fall color in Beaver’s Bend State Park in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma. I was near Lost Creek, a small creek that connects to the Mountain Fork river on both ends. Beaver’s Bend is a part of the Ouchita National Forest. It’s an area of mountains, forests, and extraordinary natural beauty.