Nature's Mirror: Aldridge Gardens, Hoover, Alabama

There is something almost mathematical about a perfect reflection — the way the water takes everything above it and recreates it with such precision that the image becomes its own complete world, just as real and just as beautiful as the original.

At Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, a magnificent spreading oak tree dominates the upper half of the frame — its broad, rounded canopy still holding its late summer green, branches reaching wide against the overcast sky, the lush manicured lawn sweeping down to a stone retaining wall at the water's edge. A garden path curves gently around the base of the hill, and a small structure peeks through the trees in the background, hinting at the carefully tended world of this beloved Hoover botanical garden.

Then the stone wall meets the water — and everything above it is recreated below in perfect symmetry. The oak's full canopy, the green lawn, the stone wall itself, all reflected with remarkable clarity in the still surface of the lake. And below the tree's reflection, the water opens up into a second sky — white clouds drifting across a pale blue reflected heaven, autumn leaves floating on the surface like punctuation marks in the middle of a long, peaceful sentence.

The composition divides naturally into three distinct worlds — the living landscape above, the stone boundary between them, and the reflected world below — and yet the whole image reads as one seamless, perfectly balanced scene.

Bring the serene, symmetrical beauty of Aldridge Gardens home with this museum-quality fine art photography print by Bama Price — available as metal, canvas, or glossy paper.