Before dawn arrives Paul, my guide for the day, takes me to a grove of dwarf bald cypress growing in the swampy saw grass. On go the water shoes and we start slogging in the cold but clean water before the sun peaks over the horizon.
In the winter, the cypress have lost most of their leaves and appear like ghostly skeletons with their white bark. I felt like I was walking in a tree graveyard at night with the added mystery of what might be lurking beneath the water.
I find a tree with an interesting shape and get low angle so no other trees appear behind it.
When the sun makes itself known and lights up the clouds in the sky I changed direction and found a different tree with a good shape. I do like shooting directly into the sun. This time I tried a higher angle to get the clouds reflecting in the swamp water. Just as I got ready to take my shot a crow came and landed on the tree, posing for the perfect silhouette.
I love the crow in the cypress! Very interesting geometry – great contrast with the horizon.
Hi Logan, thank you very much for your kind comments! I liked how the curve of the tree mirrored the clouds.
pretty..
Thanks Kaz!
Anne, I have really been enjoying your blog. I have been to Florida once and I loved photographing the birds and gators. The second image is superb. I really like all the reflections off of the water in it.
Keep up the wonderful work.
chris
Hi Chris, thank you very much for your kind comments, I am so glad you are enjoying my journey and images. I’m glad you noticed the reflection in the swamp on that second image, it is what really drew my attention to the scene even though the sky is more prominent in the resulting image.
Nice captures. I like the colors of the first and the shapes, but the second one has more to offer visually. Very nice. Was it more than one exposure?
Hi Steve, yes, the second image is HDR. I made 3 exposures and combined them in Photomatix. Otherwise it would be really hard to get the dark foreground and the bright sky in one exposure. Thank you very much for your visit and comments, much appreciated.
Lovely pair of images. A very obliging crow. The second image has wonderful light.
Thank you Andy, your comments are always appreciated.
So nice of that crow cooperate. They’re both incredible shots.
Thank you very much Edith!
Excellent images Anne. I really like the bird silhouetted in the second one
Thank you very much Len, that crow did me a big favour by placing himself there at the perfect moment.