b&w Angel Oak

Talk about 'filling the frame'  this beauty looks to stretch on forever!

Wonderful dappled light and great tones.

Those two tiny people on the lower left of centre really put this into perspective. The twisting, turning, seeking branches, reaching out exploring, looking for life and light, attached to a firmly rooted trunk, are impressive. The roots are reaching into the earth in a similar fashion, both reaching and searching for the essence of life. This looks like it belongs in an ancient, enchanted, mythical forest.

A very nicely composed beautiful shot, Jeff!

What an impressive tree. And what an uncanny atmosphere. My experience connects a sheltering atmosphere under the green roof of a sheltering tree. But here the massive trunk and stretching, grasping branches reach out like tentacles of an ancient beast violently claiming its space.

- Wolfgang

Oh...holds so many and so much....it feels it was there for ever! Beautiful!

Powerful, unyielding and sheltering.  The tones and atmosphere are exquisitely captured and I agree about the inclusion of the two people in the left side giving a sense of perspective to the composition.

Awesome tree!  Angel, Demon and just about everything in between can be interpreted from within the gnarled branches and striking textures. This deserves to be printed very large and displayed in a prominant position befitting its age and powerful presence.

Best Regards

Alf

Effective and scary none the less!  best, j

Lovely, timeless, ageless. I'm talking about the tree. This tones and composition is nice, too, LOL!

I respect and admire the quality of your b/w work, this is is a great example of that, the exposure here is well set and so the details obtained are of very fine nature while the contrast and tone technically speaking remarkable and adding a lot of credit to this image.

Thank you my friend for sharing it and wishing you all of the best.

I know that I have commented on this one ,but probably forgot to confirm.That tree looks like an old human being.....  I really wonder how old it is? I think I read somewhere that if you cut a tree trunk (  close to the roots ) you can see how many rings it has and know how old it is.  Do you know about it?  Very nice special tree and PP.

A tree filled with tangible,visible signs of intriguing history.  Reminded me of the apple tree in Oz because it looks like it could reach out ... great using the two people as height indicators --  like a deeply crinkled, wrinkled face of an old person etched with a life story

Stunning and it looks great in B&W!

Jeff, admirable shot of a grand old tree, an Ode to Nature. Very good composition & tones. This image reminds me of a poem of William Wordsworth.

"This solitary Tree! a living thing

Produced too slowly ever to decay;

Of form and aspect too magnificent

To be destroyed." - Yardley Oak.

That is quite a tree. Although not the same kind it reminds me to one that I use to play as a kid.

Fantastic image indeed.

Alex

Wow!! Amazing tree and great shot Jeff!  Wonderful in B/W...

That is some tree!! It appears to be more than one tree grown together to form one very large and scary monster of a tree reaching out to gather what it needs to stay alive. Beautifully photographed and processed. B&W was a good choice for this one.

Very interesting tree, and your presentation is phantastic. I like the bw treatment, sharp with nice contrast and tones. The people in the photo add a lot in my opinion.

What strikes me is how well your approach to this (lens, perspective, lack of romanticism) relates to the subject itself. There's a balance between this subject being photogenic and your making it photographic. In doing so, it become more than a great tree . . . it is very much the tree photographed, in which the tree synthesizes with your photographic vision of it. What I love about it is how unabashed it is. You went for the gusto.

Gordon:  The tree was immense.  I was glad to have a wide-angle lens on board.

Linda D:  It's a cool old tree, worth the drive.  You're right about the people.  In color, their bright shirts seemed like an offense to nature.

Ruud:  Thanks so much.

Wolfgang:  Each limb had its own personality with ivy and moss shinnying upward.  Notice the boards holding the limbs up.

Tatjana:  There are times where I feel very small. 

Adan:  I suspect this old guy's gonna be around a lot longer than I will.

Alf:  The trick was keeping some of the detail on the dark branches.  The original did seem more demonic than angelic.

Jamie:  Ah, Tim Burton.  God bless his black and twisted little heart.

Emmanuel:  I miss the tall redwoods out your way.  We took a bunch of pics in Muir woods, pre-kids, but they've disappeared somewhere on some long-abandoned hard drive.

Rashed:  Thanks for your thoughts regarding the treatment, which I hope didn't overwhelm the subject.

Pnina:  This tree is estimated to be about 1500 years old.  It's in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Wonderful pic of a tree full of magic and beauty.  Congratulations, Jeff, one of your best.  Mari

An electrified tree!  Extraordinary!  It seems almost animated.   Well done!  ~~~~~L

Donna:  The experience of being right next to it and looking up into the tangles was amazing.  From a distance, it does have the appearance of the surly apple-tossing trees in Oz.

Tony:  Thanks.  The color version was nice, but this emphasized the structure better.

Amal:  Apparently, this old guy suffered greatly during one of the recent hurricanes, but recovered nicely.

Alex:  I'm afraid that a kid could be lost for quite some time around this tree. 

Andrea:  Thanks so much.

Fred F:  In person, it didn't seem quite as foreboding as this capture might suggest.

Gunnar:  With the people included, the tree suddenly announces its immensity. 

Fred G:  A friend of mine took me here specifically so I could take a picture for her.  So I had my best game going.  Usually, I'm sloppy as a photographer, but ruthless as an editor.  I'm finally working on basic issues such as shutter speed in order to improve my game.

Mari:  Thanks.  Magic and beauty is an apt description of this tree.

Linda L:  I loved how the tree veins through the air.  The canopy doesn't seem to intrude on the structure of the tree.

really very interesting and beautiful..it is like 3D....congrats

Gracefully beautiful tree. I love the live oaks of the south. You did her justice.