It’s early spring in 2018 and I’m at a nature preserve on Chicago’s northwest side. Color is just starting to come back to the world, and there are signs of life: blossoms just pushing out of their buds, goslings clinging near mom and dad as they learn the lay of the land. I take a few photos of those and this and that; then I see, over at the far edge of the pond (just a couple of hundred feet away), a mother and her daughter crouched low to the ground taking a close look at something in the water. You can’t tell in this smaller version, but if you could see this full-sized, the girl is reaching into the water, moving something with a stick.

And that’s the story this tells. Whether mom is showing her daughter something or the daughter is sharing her discovery, the world is fresh and coming back to life, and these two people, who look all but tiny in this setting, have found something in the pond to share, among all the trees and reeds and grasses towering above them that sustain the preserve.

May 5, 2018. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), Nikon 70–300mm at 70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm), f/16, 1/60, ISO 100.