This week I have been looking at bare trees -- a lot. This is a good time to get out and get those shots before spring arrives. Just about an hour ago I noticed buds on the tips of some limbs as I drove by a favorite swampy spot. Redbud trees are blooming -- as well as a couple other trees that I have no clue what they are -- but they are sporting some blooms.
A couple days ago I was out in the back yard -- again -- playing with the Composer -- again. I looked up at the trees at the edge of the woods. The photo is interesting to me. I like the bits of sharpness, blur, and almost the smudge of the tree on the right. Since the tree on the right is so blurred -- it gives me the sense of movement -- like that tree is running away from the other one. The sky was mostly overcast but bright. I blew out the light enough to hide shapes of clouds. The look I wanted was just the bare tree against the background of a blah sky. The tree is the focus not the sky -- and I did not want even a cloud to detract from the tree.
When the end of a season is looming I feel all this pressure to get out and get my photos of the "look" before it is gone. In fall I hustle for the color before the leaves drop. Even after they start to drop -- I hustle for the bits of color left on a tree. In summer you are hunting the least bit of full green foliage or flowers. In the spring you are competing with the time and the life of a bloom. Those cherry trees have a "shelf life." Now I am feeling it (the hurry up thing) for the bare tree photos or photos of the woods without leaves getting in the way. Just the other day I noticed the leaf buds on my clemantis vine.
Spring is coming -- get in those winter photos now -- next thing you know leaves and blooms will be all around you.
