During one of my annual trips to Great Smoky Mountains National Park for spring wildflower photography, the weather turned unexpectedly cold and wet. It began to snow as I drove toward the Cosby area in the predawn on my final morning in the park. I arrived at the parking lot near Cosby Creek just as daylight arrived--gray, cold, still--the ground rapidly turning from spring green to snowy white. I mounted a macro lens on my camera and began to look for subjects to illustrate the contrast of winter's precipitation with spring's new growth. I found a dogwood tree blooming in an open area where no larger, overhanging trees shielded it from the snowfall. I was immediately struck by the snow and ice accumulating on individual petals and leaves of the Christian icon that is the dogwood blossom in full bloom. I searched awhile for a "perfect" flower on which to focus my lens, but when I found this particular, rather imperfect blossom I knew I had the subject I wanted. To me, the torn petal at the bottom of the frame adds further to the symbolism of suffering and sacrifice that is generally attributed by members of the Christian faith to the otherwise lowly dogwood tree. It is this subtle, underlying symbolic meaning that makes this one of my favorite photos from that spring's shooting in the Smokies.