Tree in a... tree?

My favourite thing about taking my camera everywhere and looking at everything as a potential photograph, is that it has made me more aware of my surroundings.

This is, in fact, a tree growing inside a tree stump. The current living tree is fairly large (you can just see a bit of it's root snaking out the bottom left of the old stump), so that should give you some sense of how large the old stump is. At a guess, I would say it was at least 2 feet tall. Clearly, as it decomposed it made for a rich environment for the new sapling to flourish in. I can't be certain, but I'm going to guess that the younger tree is not of the same type as the older stump. TOO COOL!

As for the picture itself, I intentionally didn't try to capture the whole tree. To get far enough back to see it all would have meant losing all the brilliant detail that was my focus. I love the bits of pale green moss or lichen that are growing on the outside of the stump, and the contrast in the colours between the new tree and old stump. I also like the contrasts on the ground, between the rich green leaves (IN JANUARY!!!) and the brown needles and leaves carpeting the ground.

Lake reflection

Yay for vacations! They give you a chance to try a whole different type of photography, by being in a different environment. Here, instead of dealing with snow, I have to figure out how to deal with fog and near-constant drizzle.

For this picture, I was trying to get two sets of trees - the real, and the reflection! I really like the way it turned out, with the skiff of fog over the water to act as a sort of barrier for the two. The sky is a little too bright, too washed out. I wasn't expecting that to be an issue on such a rainy, cloudy day!

It's a tree!

Another of the 30 Day Challenge topics was trees or foliage. The problem I've been having with a lot of my photography lately is lighting - the sun rises after I've left for work, and sets while I'm still at work. And natural light is of course my favourite. So it's been a little tricky getting some of these shots without either resorting to taking umpteen pictures in my office or through a window. This one, however, I got on a bus!

Part of what I enjoy of this challenge is that it's making me more aware of my surroundings. I have to really look around and think of things that will fit different aspects of the challenge. In this case, here is an ad I had seen dozens of times before, but I'd never really realized it was a tree! (As a bonus, the mirror in effect gives me two trees!)

Colours of Fall, part 3

These colours are completely different, but equally fall. That clear, but cold blue sky says winter is not too far away. The pine tree has pushed out an absolute plethora of pinecones, most of which still have their places on these upper branches. I just love how the tree is completely framed by the unbroken blue. I feel like it could somehow have been framed or set up better, but I'm not sure how, just off the top of my head.

Fall is here.

The colours didn't really come through, but I still like the picture. Blue blue sky (which looks grey) showing flawlessly through the rawness of the bare branches. No clouds, no power lines, no noise. Season changes are really quite beautiful.

Amazing nature

Nature always amazes me. For example, apparently only about a third of this tree has received the memo that it's autumn now. So the right third is entirely red and yellow, while the top bit is confused and the left is entirely green. (The yellow at the bottom left is actually another tree.)

Beautiful colours!

Fall? Already?

It's not a stunning picture, but I'm kind of in denial...

Seriously, I'm sure this tree was fully green when I walked past it just the day before! What's going on here? I'm not ready for the seasons to change!