yep, this one's color...because among other things, it's about color - here's the story: we were all waiting for the light to change shortly after sunrise one morning during our workshop, and most of us started to wander around looking for other interesting opportunities...i quickly gathered these leaves, which to me represented the spectrum of leaf colors around us at the time, and asked if anyone wanted to shoot them. i took each leaf and dropped it on a nearby rock, then tweaked the arrangement a bit. so it's random, but it's not. one student gasped, "you're going to stoop to that?!" "you bet. why not? let's make art! " i replied. interestingly, a number of students gathered 'round, some made their own tweaks to the arrangement, and shot away. seems to me, though, that i bumped up against some preconceived notions of what "nature" photographers are, eh? Guy Tal seems to have come across the same issue, which he describes in a recent blog post.  i'm fine with anyone who wants to "document reality" as their approach. whatever works, i say, but a little stretch every now and then can't hurt, can it? btw, ever see paul caponigro's meditations in silver? still life images meticulously and subtly crafted and photographed that will take your breath away!