Winter View From Roosevelt Island

We tend to think of winter as a gray and charmless time, especially if there is no magical blanket of snow. Winter is a time of nuance, a good time to notice the many shades of rust and brown on the ground and in the undergrowth, to revel in the tracery of almost-black branches. Standing on Roosevelt Island in the middle of the Potomac River, I turned my back on the more photogenic views of Washington, DC and instead looked across to Virginia, where Rosslyn's office buildings rise up beyond the trees. Lines and angles in every tone of gray and blue-gray contrast with the irregularity of the branches. There is inspiration in this, and a reminder of how subtlety can be beautiful.