Sentinels Three #14905

The Story

A tall and strong red oak tree puts its nearly bare branches into the late winter sky, Spring is coming closer by the day. The neighboring maple and sycamore form a line of three here with the sycamore holding the shoreline. They face to the west to watch patiently for the full return of Spring…the western light lies softly on the stretching limbs.

A red oak tree will never drop all its leaves for winter and carry them proudly all the way through the cold season. This one still carries a small fleet of them, turned and curled into hard crisps. When the cold winds blow in winter, those dry leaves rattle together loudly which of course, makes it seem colder than it actually is. When you visit the woods alone in a cold winter breeze, wind through the pines make a whooshing sound and the rattling oak leaves combine with it to make the perfect sounds of winter as the woods wait for Spring.

I have found to photograph in black and white at this time of year is an advantage, here done in infrared photography. I enjoy seeing the detail of the limbs lit against a dark sky, the fine lines, and the width of the reaching branches. Infrared photography does this best by making the blue sky very dark as well as the water. Anything living goes into shades of white and gray. Done this way, the trees are naked yet still beautiful in a very late Winter or early Spring landscape. It makes for a peaceful and unusual view of Mother Nature during her off season.

There’s another horizontal view of two sycamore trees along this lakeshore at the same time of year as Two Dancers #14896…and another interesting look at the spreading limbs of a single sycamore show up dramatically in black and white as Embrace #14895.

Location: Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks