Category Archives: Trees

04/22/13 ~ Susan

Search or Serendipity?

Lil’ Blue Heron Fishin’

Someone remarked recently that great photographs cannot be found by searching or hunting for them. When I thought about this comment, I’m not sure I always agree. There are many times when planning a photography adventure for the sole purpose of photographing particular settings turns out extremely well.

Planning a trip doesn’t necessarily mean that the resulting photographs will be mundane; on the contrary, time and money can be saved with planning by ensuring that aspects such as weather and lighting will be advantageous for the photography. In addition, routes can be mapped to save time and gas that might otherwise be wasted looking for specific or intriguing locations. That having been said, there is another side to that argument alluding to the possible intended spirit of the remark.

The reverse argument favors the idea of serendipity—finding that amazing photograph when you least expect it, unplanned, uncharted, and completely spontaneous. I’ve taken many surprising photographs resulting from chance encounters. More often than not, however, I find the unexpected during a planned trip. One such photograph titled, “Stained Glass Tree“, was taken on a visit to a popular waterfall. Although the waterfall was stunning, the real beauty that day was a scrubby looking maple glistening at the edge of a cliff overlooking the waterfall, sunlight illuminating its multicolored leaves while patches of blue sky peaked between every crevasse.

The photograph featured in this post, “Lil’ Blue Heron Fishin’“, is an unplanned siting of a little blue heron catching a fish with bright green duckweed as his backdrop. Its difficult to plan shots of wildlife and birds because they’re unpredictable, so you have to be ready at a moment’s notice.

I’m not sure there is one right approach since there are many different factors. However, whether you plan your photography adventure or not, remain open to all of your surroundings, not just your intended destination. You’ll end up being surprised at the hidden gems you discover along the way.

07/25/12 ~ Susan

Ode to Angel Oak

Indelible Imprint, Limited Edition

The featured Limited Edition photograph, “Indelible Imprint“, and the haiku that follows express my fascination with a well-known magnificent Southern Live Oak tree—the Angel Oak located on Johns Island, South Carolina. A previous release of a similar photograph taken on the same day, “Mighty Angel Oak“, was very popular with customers.

Southern Live Oaks are amazing trees with curving branches that reach out in every direction and then arch up again toward the sky, and the Angel Oak is the granddaddy of them all.  Measuring 65 feet tall with limbs stretching out to 180 feet at their widest point, tip-to-tip (according to Wikipedia), the Angel Oak is the oldest living Live Oak tree in the Southeast and has quite a following. Each time I visit the tree, I witness the awe and admiration surrounding it. Visitors from all over the world are snapping pictures and can often be seen hugging the tree, hoping to absorb some of its strong life force. The haiku that follows is an ode to the beloved Angel Oak.

Curving ancient limbs
adorned in mossy splendor ~
angel of an oak.

 

04/3/12 ~ Susan

April Showers

Couple under umbrella at Middleton Place

April Showers

Although it seldom rains around Charleston, there is a refreshing sense of renewal in the air when it does. Instead of rushing indoors, you want to press your face to the sky and feel the cool droplets splash on your skin.

Strolling around Middleton Place and dodging rain showers one April morning, I turned a corner to find a couple framed in azaleas and sharing an umbrella while live oaks formed a perfect canopy over their heads.

10/10/11 ~ Susan

The Boneyard

Botany Bay Boneyard

The Boneyard

The Boneyard seems like a befitting theme as Halloween approaches, yet the boneyard captured in this picture doesn’t quite match the one that comes to mind—the image of a graveyard, scattered with headstones tended by splintered black trees, stabbing their craggy limbs into the steel gray sky. This graveyard belongs to Mother Nature, a graveyard of trees slowly being reclaimed by the sea, trees that are now just remnants of what they once were. This place possesses a haunting beauty, a dichotomy of life and death that transcends elements of nature into the supernatural.

Despite the outward forces of destruction, life is teeming in and around the boneyard at Botany Bay Plantation: surf continues to batter the shoreline, pelicans fly in symmetrical formations overhead, and the sun shines so bright you can scarcely steal a glance at the Carolina blue sky. The sculptural tree relics of the boneyard contrast starkly against the life-giving blues of the sky and still, this place of turbulence is much more than a ghostly apparition. A diverse wildlife population flourishes nearby, including endangered species such as Loggerhead Sea Turtles, Wilson’s Plovers, and Least Terns. After spotting one of the rare Painted Buntings that inhabit this coastal area, I am reminded once again that life goes on.

09/17/11 ~ Susan

Rugged Beauty

Clouds Illusions

I recently went on an adventure to Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve on Edisto Island and found an abundance of photographic opportunities and places to explore. That first trek through the park revealed an amazing trail of terrain and plant life, some of which was unfamiliar to me—live oaks wrapped in mossy garlands stretching their long arms out over the water while tiny crabs scurried about beneath them; seabirds swooping over the edge of the marshlands to scoop up their dinner and then soar back upwards to the sky; and tree skeletons lining the shore of the Boneyard like so many petrified soldiers unwilling to release their hold on this ever-changing landscape.

Some favorite photographs captured during this experience include the featured photograph in this posting, “Clouds Illusions”, of one of the marshes there. This series of photographs became one of my most popular with many customers having purchased a similar photograph of the marsh captured at a different time of day, “Wind-kissed Marsh”. Other cherished photographs captured around the same time are “Surreal Sunset” and “Surreal Sunset II“.

My hope for this ruggedly beautiful natural environment is that the strong tides and erosion will not erase it altogether, especially for the many species and endangered species who call it home.