Scrub Oak in monochrome

Scrub oak is one of my favorite subjects in black and white.  That isn’t a judgement on the species in color; its hues throughout the year are lovely, with shades of lush green through the summer and crisp yellows and oranges in the autumn.  But there is something about the shape of its leaves, its […]

Maple & Witch-Hazel

I don’t think there’s a photographer – or even a nature lover – who can resist a backlit leaf.  It’s true at any time of year, but especially so during autumn.  The backlighting makes the details explode: shapes, veins, cells, all the intricate pieces that make up the whole. The leaf on the left is, […]

Ferns

It would be easy to look at this and think of it as nature in decay; the ferns turning yellow at the end of the season amid a bed of fallen leaves, while a tree limb slowly decomposes behind them.  But I prefer to see it as the lifecycle of the forest, one season ending […]

Eales in Autumn Details

Scrub oak and ferns, mountain laurel and low-bush blueberry.  There are some of the defining features of the pine barrens, a low and almost alien landscape spread thin soil and chunks of bedrock at the Eales Preserve. I shared some recent landscape photos of the Preserve a few days ago, but this is a different […]