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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Sunrise from Leesylvania State Park (2008) /  by Todd Henson

Sunrise from Leesylvania State Park

One afternoon while going through my older photos I stumbled across this one, which might be my first sunrise with a DSLR. I believe I’d purchased the camera two to three months before this, and I decided it was time to try a sunrise, so I got up early enough to arrive at Leesylvania State Park and watch the sun rise above the far shore of the Potomac River. The distant shore is in Maryland and I was in Virginia. There was a single sailboat in the water somewhat near shore. I tried to position the sun so its reflection was completely in the water, creating that line of reflected sunlight. Nothing spectacular, but I still have fond memories of creating this one.

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Sometimes a Tree Fascinates Me /  by Todd Henson

The more time we spend around trees the more opportunities we have to see something interesting. Trees are like people. As much as any two of them may at first look alike, each one is different and unique, and the more time we spend around them the easier it’ll be to see and appreciate these differences. Today, though, I’m not thinking so much of those subtle differences you really have to look for, but instead I’m thinking about those trees that immediately stand out as different.

How did it grow this way?

The tree in the photo above is an example. How did it grow this way? It’s almost as if it were intentionally growing into a large bench for tired and adventurous hikers to rest on. Was there perhaps something below it when it first started growing, and now whatever that was is gone leaving this unusual horizontal growth and a second trunk growing vertically from it? And look at that little knee joint at the corner. I do like how you can see some of the large roots growing out below the second trunk seemingly to give more support and balance. This is a good sized tree so there’s a lot of weight in the second trunk.

Creekside tree

I’m often drawn to trees that grow along the bank of a creek. Frequently, you can see more of the root system and sometimes the trunks will grow in different ways. In the case of the tree above it’s not all that strange or unusual but I still find myself drawn to it, along with the fallen tree resting horizontally above the water.

Coming together

In the photo above we see two trunks coming back together, fuzed into one another. I didn’t think to photograph the tree at ground level to see if perhaps it’s a single tree that splits into multiple trunks. Either way, though, I found it interesting how one trunk branches out and then somehow attaches itself to and merges with another trunk.

The Troll

And I’ll leave it up to you to determine what you see, if anything, in the photo above. Trees often develop growths and sometimes they take on shapes that resemble other things, similar to clouds or rock formations. I don’t currently know what causes these growths. My guess would be they are similar to cancer in humans, but I’ve yet to do any research on the topic. If you happen to know please comment below.

So all these examples are my long-winded way of saying, sometimes a tree fascinates me. 😀

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