I have a thing for dead trees. Not a creepy, weird kind of thing, just an appreciation. I love the way they look. I’m fascinated by the variety of textures they have and by the lines they create.

I stumbled across this one while hiking with my husband a few years ago. I could have photographed it for hours. It was rainy that day; the bark was chocolate brown and the leaves on the surrounding trees were so green they practically glowed. It was an amazing sight.

While I originally took this photo in color, I think I like the black and white version better. For one thing, my original photo makes it look like the leaves on all the surrounding trees are attached to this one. But for another, I just don’t feel like I was able to truly capture the scene as I saw it. Maybe I just need more practice. Or maybe it was just one of those beautiful scenes that refuse to be preserved.

Incidentally, I’m having a similar problem with a short story at the moment. It refuses to cooperate, and finishing it was like pulling teeth. I’ve no doubt that revising it will be the same, so I’m going to work on another one for a little while and see if that helps.

Either way, I really like this picture, and I hope you enjoy it, too. 🙂

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