It seems that one cliché in photography is the golden leaf on a wooden surface. At least, I’ve seen enough of them that it appears to be cliché, and my good writing teachers have taught me to avoid them.

As you can see above, I’m shaming my teachers. This is from Old Town when I was on a photo outing with Carrie about a month ago. It’s the only place in Sacramento where you’ll find modern day mailboxes encased in wooden decor as to not clash with the mid-19th century buildings and the SUVs parked in front of them.

In my defense, the shadow caught my eye first. I felt that it created a nice and mysterious contrast by running across the leaf. My further defense is that the photo on the right is actually the first one I took of the leaf; it’s not nearly as interesting with the wooden lines running so vertical. I took the second photo above but canted and tighter framed, which is much more striking. Regardless, I think the real seller is the shadow and the ambiguous feeling it suggests.