A FOUNTAIN AT KINGWOOD CENTER—

This fountain goes splish-splash at Mansfield's World-class, horticultural gardens.

It is therapeutic as moving water always is, especially on this sultry, spring day.

Then, the magic of close-up, digital photography renders the scene in a perspective of startling clarity.

Individual water drops are stilled in their flight by the abbreviated time of a 1/3,200th of a second exposure.

Because the exposure also was adjusted to retain detail in the liquid highlights, the darker foliage in the background was underexposed into virtual darkness...

...making the liquid appear like the crystal of fine jewelry, and

entitling the viewer to now ponder its forever frozen shape.