This past Tuesday, I went to Circle B with a friend to take some photos. Usually this is a place Mike and I go to early on the weekend mornings, but we had just gone on Saturday and he was really wanting to get a shot of an osprey diving into the water. I thought instead of waiting an entire week, maybe we could get something during the evening so suggested that we go on a weeknight.
With typical evening thunderstorms we ventured over. Upon arrival, at the start of our hike to the pier, we were greeted with a sign that indicted trail closures. Nothing unusual at this time of year because they do close trails due to alligator breeding season. However, this closure was for restoration work and it closed the trail to the pier. So we had a decision to make as to where to go shoot. I elected to continue on through the oaks, as I love this part of the reserve and knowing it had been raining recently, I was hoping the resurrection ferns would be be up and green. This is an area I have always wanted to shoot early in the morning with fog, but I have not had the opportunity yet to capture this, but I was hoping this would still be a good opportunity. It was absolutely gorgeous. Everything was still wet from the rain, no one around, and it was so nice just to be present on the trail walking through the oak grove.
While it was nice to always want to shoot this area and some idea what attracted me to the trees, now that I was there, I was overwhelmed with all the choices. Originally I thought I wanted to capture the low light with the dense greenness of the ferns against the dark wet trunks and branches.
Oaks with Resurrection Ferns
But as I continued to shoot, I was drawn to the contrast between the dark branches and the ligher background and thought the gnarly branches would really pop against the more muted background if done in black and white. This allowed me to focus on trying to capture the shapes of the trees. Upon reviewing the photos and beginning to process, I headed in the direction of black and white and produced these 14 photos.
While I do like these and what I was able to capture, I have also left them in color to more closely capture the mood and color present in the early evening following some brief rain.
There is always another day to return and follow these old trees through the seasons and perhaps one day I will make it over there one early morning to be greeted by these old friends softened by a light fog which has stopped to settle in the grove.