Joe Barrett shared his photograph of a struggling acacia greggii (Catsclaw, Tear Blanket, Wait a Minute) bush besieged by orange mistletoe, on the border of Twentynine Palms.
This is the time of year when the catsclaw greens up, in vivid obsene chartreuse -- if it's healthy. Later it is laden with heavy racemes of cream-colored flowers.
Now that everyone has a phone, everyone is a photographer. This photo is an example of what sets the artist apart from those who take snapshots, though, in all fairness, many snapshots are also quite good.
In this photograph the expert composition is evident, the shadows on the ground of sand; the lower white dead branches - which protect the lower parts of the tree from predation; the orange layer of parasitic growth; and the triumphant, though struggling, leafing of the upper branches; all supporting a diverse biological community. What a metaphor of desert life! I'm also impressed by the color composition: the white, black, and orange against a muted steel bue sky and the muted color of the sand below.
All in all a very complex and layered composition that points to the genius of the artist.
YMMV.
