For many years, I noticed this tree on the Keanae Peninsula, a couple hours drive down the curvy Road-to-Hana, here on Maui. It had the kind of beauty that stands out when the moon is out, the land quiet, and the night dark. I had such a strong desire to capture it, only if I could rid it of the burden that life had thrown onto its branches - buoys, ropes, and other elements of life found around the beach. It seemed as though it became a target for people who needed a spot to dump misplaced materials lying on the beach. Soon enough, the tree stood littered, its beauty stripped away, and in its place, a longing for freedom.

Years later, the moment I had been waiting for presented itself. I was out exploring the peninsula when I noticed that the tree had been de-cluttered. The forlorn pile of leaves, branches, and trash had been replaced by a clean, healthy element of nature. The tree stood in all its glory, almost as if it was aware that at that moment, it was becoming part of something beyond itself. Beside the tree, about 20 yards away, a shy mud puddle that was a few feet in diameter had formed from a recent downpour.

The thought of finally having the experience I had visualized for years excited me. Also, I recognized the small brown puddle as potential to become an instrumental part of the work later that evening.

I came back well after sunset, and the tree looked beautiful in the dark. With the camera at ground level, I used a windbreaker for a simple support and to keep the camera from getting muddy. Using a powerful flashlight, I composed and focused, and made my first exposure while painting-with-light onto the scene. The camera had taken a small, brown mud puddle and created an ethereal image that caught a reflection of the stars in the water, and the relief of the tree to be free again!

With a little more work to refine the light-painting and fine-tune the capture, I was confident to call it a good image. Still, this experience was more than just a good image. It was a valuable and healthy reminder that the photographic eye can see visual harmony and bring out the beauty in the mundane, and that time is an important aspect of beauty manifested through patience and grasped through reflection.