Figure 1 – Star in a snowy window. (c) DE Wolf 2017.

Every once in a while, I go through the images that I never processed and have forgotten about. Sometimes there are pleasant surprises. Case in point, today I found this image of a stained glass six pointed star hanging in a snowy window.  It was taken on Valentine’s Day. I remember rejecting it with an “eh”. But today I examined it closely and decided that I really liked the composition, the tilted mullion in the glass and the shadows of branches outside. Notice also the subtle opalescent face in the center circle, like the “Man in the Moon.”The color and lighting certainly point to winter. Who wants to think about winter this time of year – especially about snow.

Some trivia, of course, is in order. Most of the stars we think of are five pointed and they vary the whole spectrum from the Star of Bethlehem to the Devil’s Pentagram. The big exception is the six pointed Star of David. And an interesting point – if you look at the Great Seal of the United States you will find a set of 13 five pointed stars, symbolizing the original 13 states. But in the seal these are arranged in such a way as to create the pattern of a six pointed star.

Canon T2i with EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens at 100 mm, ISO 800,Aperture Priority AE Mode at f/7.1, with no exposure compensation.