Reaching Toward The Heavens
For over 5000 years, the bristlecone pine trees of the White Mountains have been reaching towards the stars. It is believed several of these trees are among the oldest living organisms on earth. The shoots of these particular trees were already starting to grow as Stonehenge, the city of Troy, and the tombs of the Pharaohs were being built. It was a truly humbling experience to stand in front of these trees that have been growing in silence in these mountains for hundreds upon hundreds of years.
This particular tree has been photographed by several landscape photographers but I hadn't come across any photos of it until I became interested in Milky Way photography. After finding some amazing photos online, I set off a few weeks ago with hopes of photographing them only to find the entire stretch of the Owens valley covered in clouds and smoke from the area fires. I finally had to give up and ended my day at Olmsted Point in Yosemite instead.
Last Tuesday, I set off again and was pleased to find only partly cloudy skies as I arrived 5 1/2 hours later. There were only a couple of cars left in the parking area as I arrived, but it seemed they were all on their way out. It wasn't long before I was the only one left in the Schulman Grove. I was making all kinds of noise as I set off on the upper trail, but whenever I stopped to take a shot, the silence around me was deafening. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember quite where this particular tree was, and I spent nearly 3 hours hiking to the top of a couple of different ridges looking for it. Finally, as the last of the light was fading, I decided to head further down the lower trail, even though the trail led away from the trees and out into what appeared to be nothing worth shooting. After several minutes of hiking, the trail suddenly ducked around a bend and my tree finally came into view.
I looked at dozens of gnarled and twisted trees that evening, but none of them came close to this one. Special thanks to Ryan Engstrom and Michael Bandy for helping me out by confirming that this Tree was located not far off the trail in the Shulman Grove area of the park. There were several other trees that I wanted to shoot, but those will have to wait until my next trip.
Reaching Toward The Heavens
For over 5000 years, the bristlecone pine trees of the White Mountains have been reaching towards the stars. It is believed several of these trees are among the oldest living organisms on earth. The shoots of these particular trees were already starting to grow as Stonehenge, the city of Troy, and the tombs of the Pharaohs were being built. It was a truly humbling experience to stand in front of these trees that have been growing in silence in these mountains for hundreds upon hundreds of years.
This particular tree has been photographed by several landscape photographers but I hadn't come across any photos of it until I became interested in Milky Way photography. After finding some amazing photos online, I set off a few weeks ago with hopes of photographing them only to find the entire stretch of the Owens valley covered in clouds and smoke from the area fires. I finally had to give up and ended my day at Olmsted Point in Yosemite instead.
Last Tuesday, I set off again and was pleased to find only partly cloudy skies as I arrived 5 1/2 hours later. There were only a couple of cars left in the parking area as I arrived, but it seemed they were all on their way out. It wasn't long before I was the only one left in the Schulman Grove. I was making all kinds of noise as I set off on the upper trail, but whenever I stopped to take a shot, the silence around me was deafening. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember quite where this particular tree was, and I spent nearly 3 hours hiking to the top of a couple of different ridges looking for it. Finally, as the last of the light was fading, I decided to head further down the lower trail, even though the trail led away from the trees and out into what appeared to be nothing worth shooting. After several minutes of hiking, the trail suddenly ducked around a bend and my tree finally came into view.
I looked at dozens of gnarled and twisted trees that evening, but none of them came close to this one. Special thanks to Ryan Engstrom and Michael Bandy for helping me out by confirming that this Tree was located not far off the trail in the Shulman Grove area of the park. There were several other trees that I wanted to shoot, but those will have to wait until my next trip.