It’s no secret that I like the look of bare trees. . .
By Scott Shephard
I guess I can’t help it. I like to photograph bare trees – whether dying, dead or, as in the case of this massive oak in Maryland, about to leaf out. It’s that brachiation that enthralls me. ( I just used two fancy words to pay homage to all of the English teachers that helped shape me. 🙂 )
Canon 5DIII 1/60s f/8.0 ISO200 35mm
White lilies are a symbol if Easter but to me stargazer lilies are a symbol of summer
The so-called “golden hour” is the perfect time to capture a portrait of a venerable oak . . . .
By Scott Shephard
The hour just before sunset is called “the golden hour” because the light is soft and warm. Portrait photographers love this time of day but so do landscape photographers. In the case of this beautiful tree in the Maryland countryside, I was there at the perfect time. There was no wind, it was warm and, fortunately, the light was excellent.
Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/8.0 ISO200 105mm
Another weathered and somewhat broken down oak tree waits for the resurrection that comes every spring. . . .
by Scott Shephard
I’m on a “trees in snow” theme. As I’ve said, as tired as I am of cold and snow in my home state, it’s hard not to be enthralled with the beauty of trees in snow. In fact, when I went out driving in the snow storm on this particular morning, I was explicitly looking for bare trees with snow sticking to them. And I found a few . . . .
Canon 5DIII 1/5000s f/2.8 ISO400 175mm
Two bare oak trees at Lakota Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota endure a March snow storm and wait patiently for spring.
by Scott Shephard
Children of the 70s may recognize my title’s allusion to the Doors’ song “Waiting for the Sun.” In the first stanza, Jim Morrison sings
“At first flash of Eden, we race down to the sea.
Standing there on Freedom’s Shore.
Waiting for the Sun Waiting for the Sun Waiting for the Sun
Can you feel it now that spring has come.
And it’s time to live in the scattered sun.”
I’ve never really understood this song. In fact, there are a lot of Doors songs I don’t get. “Esoteric” might be a good word to describe them. Perhaps I need some kind of reality altering substance to truly appreciate the Doors? (I remember reading that the group’s name comes from a concept known as the “doors of perception,” which has something to do with LSD.)
Speaking of altering reality, no drugs are needed to understand this scene, though I have altered your reality a bit for you. I turned the scene to black and white (though it was pretty much gray as I originally photographed it). And I’ve cleaned up a few unnecessary distractions from the scene. So I hope you don’t mind that I cropped, flattened, adjusted and colored your view of reality today.
And, yes, I think these trees are “waiting for the sun.”
Canon 5DIII 1/3200s f/2.8 ISO400 170mm
There is something about blue skies, puffy clouds and a cluster of distant trees that makes me pull over and get my camera and tripod out.
Yesterday’s post set a record for the number of words in one of my 2014 entries. So today I will let the photo speak for itself. This was taken a few miles west of Faulkton, SD.
Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/14.0 ISO160 21mm
This photo was taken a few years ago on a visit to the Yashiro Japanese Garden in Olympia, Washington. Our timing was perfect (and lucky) and the garden was, as any hunter might say, “a target rich environment.”
Canon 5D 1/60s f/4.0 ISO400 105mm
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Dreaming of Fall Colors by Scott Shephard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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This is a GoPro frame capture of my brother-in-law luring a tropical fish closer to him using a banana as bait. I’m guessing that naturalist wouldn’t like the fact that the fish have become somewhat domesticated. But it’s good for the snorkelers.
After four deer swam a quarter mile from one shore to another in a bay on Lake Oahe, three kept on moving. But this one struck a pose for me.
As I browsed looking for a photo to post, this bright, pink rose called out to me. And those are real rain drops.
