Vertical Redwoods in Corner Light

This is the first time that I have been proud to post my pictures of the Redwoods. It has been so hard to get the bright light and dark shadows right. HDR has really made it a lot easier. Some things are better non HDR...not these beautiful trees. It is the only easy way to capture the large swings in the high dynamic range during daylight hours...and bring out/justify what the floor of the forests really look like when standing in them.

 

These massive trees can live to be a thousand years old...and were just about made extinct before individuals and the Fed stepped in to save the remaining groves. They are most prominent in Northern California and Southern Oregon...though smaller groves and isolated trees are found much further south and north.

 

FOR THOSE INTERESTED I HAVE AN EXHIBITION AT THIS LINK www.flickr.com/groups/inspiringcollection/discuss/7215762...

 

Reflections On A Question Not Asked (James Watkins)

 

I would not worship nature,

but

watch the firestorms

of evening Edens

colliding with collars of stars,

bordering the spreading blankets...

flowing......floating on mist.

 

Here deep spells

speak to rising heart

of early years... tears...

and beginnings,

failed then

flourishing

in fading light.

 

Many the meetings in mirrors,

Reflection souls,

Broken and healed,

Sing out, having heard the cry

Wishing, then wondering-

Then washed by

colors of the night.

 

I would not worship nature

but cry at quietest

whisper of deep dreamy forests

drumming with wooden warmth

lost in caverns,

ascending in autumns,

forsaken in fragments

and

flames of the glowing day.

 

These flew upward

and rose

towering in grief,

Spending last hours in the

presence of the rising moon,

roaring like hatred from

doom destined disasters

waiting like the wolves

of wicked years.

 

Who, after violence came

to gentler portions

and reverences-

Listened to

voice that broke

the chain of fears,

melted by

Messianic molecules,

riding silver linings,

linked by lizards

and snakes in the grass..

That tore at seasons

then slithered into

cold corners

waiting for easier prey.

 

Come softer than nature,

with wounded revelations,

Waves of somber subtle summers,

winters, and springs-

Come straighter and stronger

on strict lines of deft decisions

resting by quietest waters

of heart streams

that have come home

to the

fountain of the universe.

 

James Watkins 12-31-08

Done