Tenderness is a sort of elastic appropriation of the essence of things into the essence of yourself, and the giving of yourself to the resultant combination of essences.

 

"Tenderness - a sort of elastic appropriation of the essence of things into the essence of yourself, without asking too many intellectual questions, and the giving of yourself to the resultant combination of essences.  The soup stirs the cook - perhaps that's what happens in Art."

Ansel Adams, in a letter to Alfred Stieglitz

Photo: A Pasqueflower on a misty day, Young Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, April 14, 2012