HDR Photography
Walking through the forest with family on Christmas day always has a special crispness to it. The roads are deserted, the days are short, the trees are bare. If the weather is chilly, the whole experienced is sharpened with red noses and warm drinks afterwards. That was the experience on the day I took this photograph.
I spent last weekend in surreal Palm Desert, California at a particular horse show, but had some time to sneak away from the action and wander the desert. I found this enormous, concrete pylon surrounded by desiccated shrubs and was almost intimidated by the whole sight. I kept waiting for the apes to start fighting around it.
Today’s photograph comes from the same forrest preserve where I photographed the creek and frozen pond. The setting sun was eclipsed by the trees to my back such that only the branches far away from me picked up that lovely, golden hue. I really liked the way that contrasted with the dull trees and textured grass closer to me.
On Christmas day, I had a chance to walk through a forest preserve outside Chicago. The sun was setting as I stopped by the side of this creek, and I loved the way it lit up the stalks.
It’s also refreshing to have proper clouds in my photographs; there are so few well-defined clouds in California that the sky can look a bit boring. That’s rarely the case in the midwest.
Decaseconds 