trees

The Beauty of a Gravel Road /  by Todd Henson

Following a gravel road

There can be a real beauty to following a gravel road over hills and through the trees with sunlight filtering through in patches of light separated by darker stripes along the length of the road. The trees and hills sometimes obscure what lies just ahead, creating that wonderful sense of mystery that pulls on one’s soul to keep driving or walking, keep moving forward, just to see what lies over the next hill or around the next turn. We become modern-day explorers discovering a new land.

What lies ahead?

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Two Views of Huntley Meadows Woodlands /  by Todd Henson

Most often when we visit Huntley Meadows I focus most of my attention on the wetlands and all the life that thrives there. But this particular morning in mid to late October I was drawn to the trees of the forest that surround the wetlands. It was early morning, the sun was above the horizon but not yet high enough to shine directly into the woods, so the scene had a very soft look, one I attempted to capture in the photograph below. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Soft Light of Morning

Some leaves had fallen, but there were many still on the trees, shrubs and vines, some changing color, though not a great many. I liked the soft even lighting that illuminated as far into the trees as we could see, and all that green intermixed with the brown lines of the trees. I have often found these sorts of busy scenes very difficult to photograph, and yet I found myself drawn to this one.

A couple hours later, after visiting the wetlands, we found ourselves once again in the woods on the way back to the car. The sun had risen and was now shining bright and contrasty light through the trees, lighting up the leaves and illuminating strips of grass, as seen below.

Woodland Highlights

I found this scene just as interesting as the one above, though they have a very different feel. The woods had a very different feel. The changing angle of the sun will do that, and it’s nice to be there to see it and turn it into a series of photographs. I hope you enjoy them.

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A Canopy in Green /  by Todd Henson

A Canopy in Green

I’ve mentioned before how I enjoy pausing to look up when hiking through the woods and today’s photograph is another example of why this is. There’s so much beauty out there and some of it is directly above us. In this case we’re looking up into the green canopy of what I believe to be a black walnut tree along the trails of Caledon State Park in Virginia. I just love all the shades of green, and the patterns of the branches and leaves. I get lost in these scenes and can only hope the photo might affect you similarly.

Exposure is always a challenge with this sort of photograph when making a single frame. There’s a large dynamic range and trying to show details in the shadows without blowing out highlights is not always easy or possible, though I feel this photograph is a nice balance between the two. And thank you, Alex, for our talks of glowing greens. I believe this photograph benefited from them.

I encourage you to look up once in a while when out hiking, whether out in the woods or even in the city. You never know when what’s above you might be just as interesting as what’s below.

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