I came across a peculiar sight on Red Hook’s Van Brunt street on August 28, 2021. There was a boot sitting on a large planter. Emerging from the boot was a small green plant, much like one I once happened across on the Manhattan Bridge. I thought that a plant in a boot would make a suitable photo musing post for The New Leaf Journal, so I proceeded to capture the scene with the Open Camera App on my Motorola Moto e6 phone. At first glance, the second of the two pictures I took looks a bit deceptive:

Photo of a boot with a plant in it next to a large weed growing in a planter in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

At first glance, it may look as if that humble boot is home to quite a bit of greenery (I did a double-take when I pulled the photo from my to-use archive). However, the first photo that I took better distinguished the virid contents of the boot from the browning plant in the larger planter.

Photo of a boot being used as a planter with a small plant in it in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The laces of the boot are tied to the woody stem of a weed growing from a larger planter.

Here, you see clearly that the boot was home only to a small green plant. The boot’s laces were tied to the larger plant that was growing in the planter.

(The ribbon was a nice touch.)

My intent in taking the photos was to give readers view of the boot-planter scene. I did not intend to capture a quasi-optical illusion in any of my shots.

Photos sometimes come out in unexpected ways.