The tree boughs forever heavily laden with collected snow, doomed to never grow new leaves.

Though the scene is black and white, it is not a black and white picture. There is simply no other color to be had.

In that moment in time for a snowy forest, what is the difference between it and a black and white picture?

Nothing.

There are no sounds, no scent, no movement.

Only silence and the eternal hovering of snowflakes in midair, trapped forever.

That moment being Now.

Perhaps in the past, that snowflake had crystallized up in the clouds before its inevitable descent.

And yet now, its inevitability is uncertain.

The only certainty is that it is there. It exists. It is.

The damp bark of the trees, frozen stiff in the snow, forever relieved of their inevitable fall to the earth as well. For in that moment of frozen time, it knows: it will never be shed.

If you look closely, the wingtips of a snow owl can be seen midflight.

What you cannot see is the terrified rabbit it has seen.

But for that rabbit, is being frozen in time a temporary sanctuary? A permanent one?

To escape certain death, only to forever be fixated upon imminent doom?

The owl, captured in its most majestic form – hunting prey.

Its wings spread wide, its claws extended, its looming reach heralding the thrill of the hunt.

Though this moment in time may be a black and white picture to some, should you choose to look further…

You will see colors you didn’t know existed.