Nature's Bonsai Garden

NorthernFocus

The southern coast of Alaska gets huge quantities of snow every winter. The town of Valdez has recorded over 50 feet of snow in a year. This produces a very harsh environment for plant life due to physical damage from the huge burden of snow and to a short growing season free of snowpack. The result of this environment is that there are many ancient evergreen trees that are stunted and gnarled to rival anything produced in the gardens of bonsai masters.

This image was taken with a Canon Powershot S2 on the shore of a bay in Prince William Sound in the middle of a "muskeg" field. The sun had just come over the mountains on a crisp, dewy morning and there was steam rising from everything. The tree is 8-10 feet tall and is likely well over a hundred years old.

I've taken dozens of photos of these trees over the years and they never quite seem to work. I finally captured one that I like and thought I'd roll it out to see what others think.

schmoo

Very awesome that the tree is so old! And i love the mist as well. Mist really adds a touch of the unreal and the rare in landscapes.

I love the backlighting of the tree that really brings out its shape against the background.

Michael Atkins

I really like this shot. The lighting really works well with the morning mist.

Boy do I need to get out to Valdez... All I've ever seen is such splendid beauty. Thanks for sharing.

NorthernFocus

schmoo wrote:

...I love the backlighting of the tree that really brings out its shape against the background.

I read an article recently about using lighting to isolate the subject. I looked at this tree and just knew there was an image worth capturing. So I just walked in a big circle around it until the sun lit it up against the shaded background. "Voila" my little pea brain said. "That's what they mean!" Even then, though I let the little S2 overexpose the shot and I had to fix it in PP

Michael, if you know anyone who boats on Prince William Sound, you need to figure out how to get yourself invited

Fred W

The backlit moss on the tree and the fog in the background really make your photo pop.

Great job !!!!

pyry

Stunning shot!

The light is maybe a tad harsh, but it doesn't cut in too much. Good work!

Reminds me that I need to get out into the mornings mists, walked through a few recently without a my camera...

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the feedback. It was such a beautiful morning when I captured this image, I'm glad some of it came through. I guess that's progress