"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" Ralph Waldo Emerson
Castlewood Canyon is relatively close to my home and whenever I have ample free time in the afternoon/evenings, I take a 15 minute drive down south and go for a hike. I usually take the Lake Gulch trail into the canyon and along the way, I stop by this tree to photograph it and to try out different compositions. I've taken many photos of this tree and this one by far is my favorite one out of the bunch.
When I stop and photograph this tree, I can't help but think how old this tree is. 100 years? Maybe 1000? Who knows. I will say that this tree in particular has the best view of the sunset and has probably seen thousands upon thousands of beautiful sunsets such as this one in it's lifetime.
I consider myself fortunate to have captured and shared this one sunset with this tree. May you see many more beautiful sunsets like this in the future my dear friend...
I have shot this tree from many different angles and most of the photos I have of this tree show it in it's entirety. In this case, I decided to try something different and only show part of the tree and somehow use it to frame the beautiful sunset. Luckily this was my first and last crack at this shot for the day since after I reviewed my bracketed set in the camera, the clouds rolled in and the sunset was no more. I'm glad I nailed it on the first try!
(7) Bracket HDR 14mm@f/5.6 ISO 100