In a way, I suppose this entire autumn series has been one big celebration of trees, because without them, there would be no fall color season.  However, I wanted to take a week here to highlight some images where the trees themselves are the main subject (or only subject).  No streams, roads, animals, or sunrise color, just beautiful trees.

Most of these pictures were taken in the Smokies, however there are two images here I want to call out specifically, because they were taken in my front yard.  The first one is the image above.  This hickory tree absolutely put on a show this year.  I had been in another part of the yard photographing some oak trees that just weren’t cooperating, when I rounded the corner and noticed the scene above.  I loved how the limbs and leaves seem to just wrap around the trunk.

The other image I’ll call your attention to is the red tree down in the Alternative Perspectives section below.  This tree managed to hang onto its leaves (it actually still has some at the bottom of its canopy!) through all the wind and rain we had, and then put on a wonderful show after all the other trees had dropped their leaves.  It was literally the only tree I could see looking in any direction here that had any color at all, and it just turned a brilliant red.  As you’ll notice, on the afternoon that I was photographing it, the moon was rising, so I managed to get the two in a single shot.

Speaking of leaves and trees, our pastor this morning was talking about how much he loves trees.  He commented that in the fall when all the trees have lost their leaves, we won’t freak out and panic, because we know spring is coming. We have the hope of knowing that, though we can’t see it right now, there is still life and growth in these trees that awaits.

More next week!

–Dan Thompson