Tying a bunch of sticks together. What would you use? Some twine. Maybe a little rope. What if those little sticks were the size of trees. Something more substantial might be in order I would imagine.

Along most any waterway around these parts, you will find tree sized wood pilings pounded into the soft shoreline. Timbers clustered together to create an anchor point where the land meets the water. A place to tie a boat or dock. A spot to stay for anything that floats. Security against the constant strain of weather, current, or tide.

To create these places of refuge huge steel cables gather tree sized logs into a unified structure. Wound tightly around the timbers like twine gathering a collection of sticks.

As a visual graphic, it provides a juxtaposition between hard cold steel and the softer organic structure of the wood it surrounds. Rusted and weathered metal against the slow decay of a timber structure. A continuous natural shoreline interrupted by pillars of wood and steel cable.

These are the contrasts that catch my eye as a photographer. The places where one surface meets another. Where one shadow transitions into the next. The critical edge where two opposing surfaces join together. Whenever I find this in the natural or the manmade world it’s always an inspiration for a photograph.