Hug ‘em, cut ‘em, climb ‘em either way, you gotta love ‘em. Trees, glorious trees. They do so much for us: shelter, tools, heat, beauty and tasty clean oxygen. They patiently accept us and the squirrels, giving of themselves without complaint, but then, they are bigger than us.
The most frustrating thing about the fall is how short the time is between when the trees turn color and when then winds from Canada blow them all off. I managed to get a few shots in before the oaks were stripped bare.
Back in art school, one of the first lessons of landscapes is that trees are very hard to draw and make look real. There are so many patterns in how a tree grows that are very subtle. You look, you draw, when done, it looks like an arboreal burn victim. Working with Joe Paquet, a true master of trees, I learned about growth patterns, weight distribution, etc. Your ancient mind knows how a tree is put together, you don’t. So drawing a tree can be like drawing a horse — not easy.
That’s what I like about photography. I don’t have to convince you that it’s a tree. I just have to find a way to find new views or simply celebrate it’s splendid form. Here I found a couple classically-crooked oak limbs that eeked out an odd composition. The main limb runs right through the diagonal. If I drew this, you’d not believe it, but since it’s a photo, you just ponder it. The trunk and the other branches create a nice vertical on the third and there you go. Yes, I was doing a composition dance below the tree to get this angle, but it was fun.
Color. What’s up? Yes, I changed the colors. I darkened and added vibrance to the sky. By bringing down the value of the sky, I closed the dynamic range of the image to support the darkness of the tree. If I had left the sky light, your eyes would not see the subtle texture in the bark and the leaves would have lost saturation. This is also why my site is black, I tend toward saturated color in my images and that looks better on a dark background. Think about a neon sign at night versus the day.
Make time today to hug a tree. If the tree has lost it’s leaves, it needs your love more than ever.
Interesting post. We have a large white oak outside my office window that I planted about 45 years ago. It is home to lots of wildlife.
I have been working on my website trying to add a few things at a time. I just added horses. The link is below if you are interested.
oldmanlincoln.com