Red mapleLondon, ON
November 2010
About this photo: This is another one of my favorite pictures of the year. Coincidentally, Thematic Photographic celebrates our faves of the year, too. So can you: Just go here.It's easy for Canadians to become jaded by the maple tree. It is, after all, one of our country's core symbols, the kind of thing that instantly reminds us of who we are and why we love this country.
Well, if you're not a Quebec separatist, that is. But that's an issue for another day. For the rest of us, it's an ever-present icon of the everyday.
The maple tree serves up enough natural reminders that the patriotic among us have lots to play with when autumn turns the landscape into an endless Crayola box. I remember this shot well. It was breakfast-time and I had just dropped the kids off at school. The sun was delightfully low, and the backlit leaves almost begged to have their picture taken before they took their final, one-way trip down.
Since I'm not one to disagree with a leaf, I soon found myself reaching into my camera bag. How Canadian of me.
Your turn: Why are national symbols like maple leaves and stars and stripes so important to so many of us?
