PONDEROSA PINE DESIGN

Ponderosa Pines are attractive in their orange, plated bark, standing tall and widely spaced in park-like forests. I also find the details of their needles and branches elegant in an Asian aesthetic, as in this composition. This tree was growing beside a river and the branches along the river were open to the sunlight and quite low to the ground in comparison to the trees in an old-growth forest, where they remain high above. I photographed these branches and needles against a light gray cloudy sky, which almost silhouetted them. Each cluster of needles is shaped like fireworks, and the composition feels like a Japanese ink drawing.

Location: Eastern Washington State, USA