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Not a lot of filters, etc done here, but wanted to share this northern California shot from today. Driving through the smoke filled mountains today, I found this area of flowers that have survived the fires and drought. The sky is grey with smoke and the trees are burned, but flowers survived.
Sad story Hazel, interesting juxtaposition between the dead and the living. I think it might convert well to b and w too. Must have been heartbreaking to drive through.
Hazel, where are (were) you? We're several miles north of the Santa Rosa airport and an air tanker has flown over about every 5 minutes all day, on a new fire adjacent to the just-extinguished Rocky Fire, SE of Clear Lake.
We are in Redding for the week. this shot was between Weaverville and Junction City. Today in Redding the smoke was very heavy, though.
hadn't thought of the BW version possibility. That may make it more dramatic. I'll give it a go.
I'd bet it was hot there, too! There seems to be smoke everywhere up that way. I'm hoping for clear skies in the SE Oregon desert tomorrow night for some astrophotography, but smoke may be too thick. The Perseid meteor shower should peak then, and I'm way overdue for a decent one.
Hope you have a great trip!
Very good composition with the small pine tree poking up in the middle from a slight valley in the flowers, and then having the burned skeletons of the trees on either side, leaning in just a bit. I remember all too well my own experience with the huge northern Colorado fire just a few years ago when I was evacuated for 2 weeks and many homes in my neighborhood were blasted into nothingness during a fire storm. The ground does recover and flowers do return. The pines probably not.
Hazel, I like the layered effect of the image and the diagonal ridge line. To my eye there is too much sky. Did you capture some horizontal images of the scene? This looks like a recovering burn area with the lush low ground cove, scattered small new conifers and the skeletal remains of large mature trees. We tend to forget that fire is part of the ecology of the western forests. So far our corner of the west has been spared. There is a silver ling from a photographers perspective. Heavy smoke can produce wonderful light.
no, I was focusing on the contrast of the burned trees and the flowers. I do have some horizontals of nearby areas that I'm working on. I lived in northern California for over ten years so I understand the ecology aspect. Just kinda wish it would come in stages, not huge threatening areas after a 4 year drought.
Hazel, sorry I'm late to comment but it's amazing to me to see how resilient flowers are. I always get a kick out of seeing them growing in cracks in concrete, etc. Fire is a natural occurrence but there's not much natural anymore so it has sometimes drastic consequences. So many trees are now vulnerable because of beetles that fire is a different dynamic than in days past. Thanks for sharing your image:S3:
An interesting and telling image. It brings home to me here in the East what is happening in the West. The flowers and green evergreens contrast nicely with the burned tree skeletons in the back. Cropping from top and a bit from the right (to eliminate the tall evergreen on the border -- cloning might be required), and adding some contrast and saturation, might make this a stronger image.
Thanks,. I'll work on some revision.
