Existence

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 22, 2012163 views4 comments

This was taken last March at Canyonlands National Park (Grandview Point) on an evening when the winds were gusting to near 60 mph as a cold front passed through. Not surprisingly, I had the park almost to myself. Fortunately, the winds were blowing me away from the 3,000 foot drop to the Colorado River. I had hesitated to show this because of the extreme light and dark areas and the one creosote shrub. Photoshop CS6 did a good job of recovering some of the shadow detail. Single trees with character are one of my favorites and one can only imaging what this pinyon has had to endure in order to exist. Anyhow, here it is. C&C appreciated.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on September 23, 2012 at 9:35 AM

Tom, Except for not having to feel the wind this makes me feel like I'm there beside you. I like the light and composition here and enjoy the natural feel this has. Looks like a hard life for this guy. I think this is quite nice and I enjoy the feel.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on September 23, 2012 at 10:28 AM

Good job capturing the feel of first light. I'd like to see maybe even a little more detail in the tree because it is such an interesting subject but this is nice as posted.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on September 23, 2012 at 11:58 AM

I've been looking at this for several times now - i like it but somehow i was also a bit distracted by the extreme light on the left in the sky. love the red glow of the rocks. overall i really like the shot

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Ben Horne on September 23, 2012 at 10:14 PM

This is the type of image that seems somewhat straightforward at first --- but the more I stare at it, the more I feel an attachment toward the subject. The sense of scale is a bit deceiving at first. Had I not read your comment about the foreground being a creosote shrub, I would have taken it for a weathered juniper at 3 or 4 times the size.

The thing that strikes me most about this image is the very painterly light quality. The bright sky near the horizon combined with the side lighting and the rich dark tone is very reminiscent of early paintings of the great American landscape.

Registered on August 27, 2009, 51 Posts, 959 Comments