Trees are among my favorite things to photograph. In Chicago in the winter, their bare branches reach like arms and fingers toward the sky. For variety, they become encrusted with snow or ice.
In the state of Washington, where I spent much of my childhood, many trees are evergreen. Forests are generally dense and dark. They are places to get lost in, either psychically or physically.
The Olympic Rainforest, situated on the Northwest corner of the country, is even denser and greener. Like the rainforests of more tropical regions, it receives 12-14 feet (around 4 m.) of rain yearly. This means a high density of plant life. Not only are there the trees, but then there are the moss, lichen and fungi that grow on the trees and under the trees. I always expect to see the trees to come to life when I am in the rainforest. One day I will turn the corner and see an Ent or two tending their herds (for those LOTR fans). It hasn't happened yet but there are worse things to believe in (such as the Sasquatch which theoretically might be espied in these parts).
Here are a couple of photos I took this winter of one birch tree and its colonists. I'm not an expert botanist (or is it mycologist?) so I cannot give you the names of what is growing on the bark. The diversity is impressive, though; isn't it?
7 comments:
These are lovely. Sometimes me find somewhat more tropical types of fungi and algae growing on our trees too. But not as pretty as yours.
Here in Phx it's pretty tough to find anything growing mold unless it's underneath a metal pan.
Really liked the Thursday 13. Some of those were weird, especially the one w/the duck bills. Yuck!
I live in the Northwest rainforest and took a walk through those green beautiful trees and ferns today. I always picure the little Ewoks from Star Trek zooming around...
Awesome pics! I wish I had better photography skills.
superb photos! I am a lover of trees :)
I love trees too. Your photos inspire me to get my camera out and get close to some tree trunks. There's a particularly impressive variety of mosses and lichens on your last tree trunk there. ..
I love these pics, and I love trees as well. I took some of an interesting tree a couple weeks ago, but they haven't made it to the blog yet. Soon. But even weirder is that in my possession, I have an eerily similar picture to the one in your profile--a photographer friend of mine took it here in Calabria. I was told that in Italy, this area is the only place that particular plant is found, but I don't know if that's true. Italians all like to think their area is special ;) If you'd like to see it, send me an email bleedingespresso.sognatrice(at)gmail(dot)com. Really, it's freaky!
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