![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/db2ce34c-120d-4a0f-9fde-0a96614b600d/d3d5ee03-dab3-49be-9586-3e3469467043_rw_1920.jpg?h=04985363a8dd8f28ce1a5c32cbb2fb35)
This photograph represents a metaphor that occurred to me as I drove down a road in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park a few years ago. The sun shone through a gap in the forest canopy to land on this small clump in the middle of this mountain river. I thought of the raging waters of the spring run-off, which made me admire the perseverance of this sapling amongst the boulders.