Haunted One

I love trees. I think you know that about me by now. I am a self-professed, unabashed tree hugger. I was very sad earlier this year when I had to cut down four trees in my back yard because they were dying and could fall on my house. 😦

Here is another image from my recent trip to the swamps to illustrate my arboreal affection. This image is quite dark and brooding. I think I’ll entitled it “Haunted One” to reflect that fact that it conjures feelings of cold, dark creepy things in cold, dark creepy places.

Interestingly, those feelings are far from the reality of the situation. Although it was indeed a frigid morning in my kayak when I created this image, it was a far cry from creepy. In fact, I was not creeped out at all. I was not afraid of the swamp. I was not afraid of being alone. I was not afraid of being in a kayak. I was not afraid of dropping my camera in the water. It was an exhilarating time. The birds, the mist, the calm, and the light were all magical. Like many things in this world that creep us out and frighten us, the unknown is not scary at all once you get to know it!

Here are some technical details about this image in case you’re interested. It is a two-image panorama shot in landscape orientation. Each image was handheld with a focal length of 155 mm, shutter speed 1/320 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1600. I hope you like it!