Lieutenant Leon Piatelli

59th Naval Construction Battalion. Guam.

Red

When I was a kid, red was my favorite color. That's no coincidence. Red is the color of anger, and I was an angry kid.

Red is also associated with fire. The thing about fire is that it can burn you to death or it can cook your food for you. It's all how you use it. It's all about controlling it, as opposed to it controlling you.

I still love red today. But because my relationship with anger is different, so is my relationship with the color.

My favorite use of red in nature is when it appears on leaves in the fall. Red is the rarest of leaf colors, and so it appears as the accent color amongst the beautiful barrage of yellows and oranges and greens that make up the foliage landscape.

As a metaphor for my life, when I have too much red in it, I'm getting burned. I'm letting the red control me. When red is an accent in my life, I'm using it as fuel. I'm using it to spark myself, and to accent the tapestry of my actions. Of my thoughts. Of my feelings. Of my dreams. 

And that's when I'm cooking...

Incoming Foliage

As of late, my writing has been dry as a bone. I'm up against a wall with something and it's completely blocking my ability to express myself with words. So I've focused on photography. No matter what, I always seem to be able to say something with images.

The beauty of the fall here in New England provides an endless canvas of colors and moods and wonders to explore. All I have to do is pay attention to it once on a while, and voila, I can receive it. I'm having so much trouble with my output right now, that I've turned to working on my input. Maybe that will guide me.

LightHouse & Sky

I'm officially obsessed with sunsets. Always have been. But it's one particular obsession I don't care to do anything about. Except indulge it...

Purple Ocean

This photo hasn't been through any filters. The ocean looks purple because it's combining the blue and pink of the sky, like a gigantic painter's palette, into one violet masterpiece.