By Scott Shephard

I tell my students that if a photo needs explanation, it isn't a good photo. So why am I posting a photo that may need explanation? Well, I figure, if Kandinsky can get away with abstraction, why can't I?

So here's what you are seeing: scattered clouds seen from above at 36,000 feet. (Don't ask me about the Kandinsky, though for me it has "math story problem" written all over it.)

Frankly, I liked today's photo as soon as I converted it to black and white (a further form of abstraction). I liked the random nature of the clouds' patterns and the snow dappled geography below them.

Beyond that, the clouds made me think of how paradoxical they are: they can block sunlight but airplanes can fly through them; they seem to have form and shape but from the inside, they seem more like fog, which is amorphous; while they seem to float on air, they can be heavy with rain and snow; and they seem random and whimsical but science can explain and predict them.

No, I really don't know clouds at all. But I can live with paradoxes and mysteries. Frankly, I, and all I see and experience, are really just like clouds. . . .

iPhone 5S 11-25-14 1/5000s f/2.2 ISO32 4.15mm

*From "Both Sides Now" by Judy Collins