Part 4 of my series of threatening winter trees. Canon EOS XSi EF-S f/3.5-4.5 at 10mm f/5.6 1/500 ISO 200 -1ev

Marin ran her hands over the bark. It had a roughness that belied the gentle feeling that she had for the old tree. It was not the texture of pain or neglect it was the rough places in an old friend; the places where the valleys and mountains of your lives fit together to form a bond that has lasted. Marin leaned in and breathed long and deep, her cheek rubbing on a spot rubbed smooth by younger feet than hers. She had climbed and climbed and climbed and in those days it had always been something new. It wasn’t new anymore, something had changed. She could feel it under her finger tips, it was almost a sound that she could sense with her finger tips, a gentle thrumming from deep within the tree. She stood back and looked carefully, nothing had change… but still.

This old willow was a remarkable tree and once I converted it to black and white the layers and layers of branches became very clear. There were so many that the tree seemed to have hair that was flowing down and I began to imagine a personality within the tree. I pulled the image into Nik Silver Efex Pro and increased the structure and contrast of the image. This brought the bark to life and added significant drama to the sky.

-Russell Berg