Birches and their Neighbours - Day 3

Winter Branches

Red Osier Dogwood Branches  

- bright red lines in the wintertime

The red color of these branches stands out in the morning sunshine, and it looks especially bright against the sky and trees on the hill behind. The abstract composition of forked lines is minimalist, and compelling in its simplicity.

Birches and their Neighbors - Day 2

Frost on Birch Tree Trunk

I love birch trees.

I love the solid cylindrical form of a birch tree trunk when I touch it and the fluttery sound of its dry papery shreds. I love the subtle colors of birch bark and the mottled dark and light patterns of the scars where branches have detached from the trunk.

I love the play of sunlight through the leaves of a birch in summer and through the complicated filagree of the branches in winter. I love the warmth from birch logs burning in a fireplace, and I love the taste of bitter-sweet birch syrup. 

And I love the look of a stand of tall birches swaying in the wind. I love birch trees.

Birches and their Neighbors - Day 1

Frost on Squashberries
- a process of satisfaction 

I love photography – I love how it happens. 

First I find something that catches my eye. Then I work through what I consider attractive about it, and then I look at it again through the camera viewfinder, and if it still looks good, I take the photograph.

Afterwards, when I look at the image to edit it, I may be seeing what originally caught my eye, or I may find something completely different. Maybe what I find is better than what I wanted. Maybe I can enhance the image in the editing process.

In the end, making a good photograph is a process of satisfaction. At each step of the way, I have to be satisfied in order to continue working on it.

And so, looking at the finished photograph is also an experience of satisfaction, for me the photographer, and also for the viewer who I hope enjoys what satisfies me.