Afterlife

Along the parkway, here in Western North Carolina, there are lonely places, down in the hollows, in the cleared fields, or just off from the forest. This particular place is much like that, surrounded by life, there is a dead and decaying tree, surrounded by underbrush, ferns, flowers, and trees just behind it, all around it. Despite the distressing nature of this at first place, the reality is much more pleasing. Understanding this tree is nurturing life all around it, its slow decay giving food, offering shelter, and encouraging regrowth. This tree, simply put, is experiencing a life after that we may yet strive for.

Three years, this photo has taken me three years to capture. It’s a relief, and an annoyance. I have tried, and tried to get this individual moment captured and shown off, and finally I can close this chapter. Perhaps not my best photo, perhaps not even one I will show off often, but this tree drew me in from the moment I lay eyes on it, and on this day, finally, I can move on to another obsession.

The edit here, unsurprisingly took me far longer than it should have. I broke out every trick I have to edit it, re edit, and edit it again. 32 total reedits, until I scrapped them all, and re edited from scratch. In the end, I edited using luminosity masks, and a bit of color adjustments, and really that’s all it needed. I had built this image up to be far more than it was, and in the end, it revealed itself for what it really was, simplicity.

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f2.8
ISO: 160
SS: 1/500th
Focal: 55mm

Fujinon 16-55mm