I’ve known of this tree for years, and even tried to get some photos of it, but never found myself in the Valley City area at a time where the field and the skies were really conducive to a good shot. Thankfully I had good timing as I drove past it this week and was able to pause to snap a few quick shots out the window.
My friend Ken still has the best photo if this tree that I’ve ever seen, but even in my haste I think I was able to get a couple of satisfactory shots. It’s all in the cropping. By deviating from the standard 4×3 aspect ratio and making the shot appear wider I was able to convey the unique solitude of the tree out in the middle of the expanse of the field. Above are a couple of examples. I wish I’d have shot a little wider for a few frames to produce a few with even more background, but these will have to do…until next time.
I wanted to try to get one of those ubiquitous “sunset lens flare over the top of a sunflower field” shots recently, but I noticed two interesting things. One is that many fields I used to see full of sunflowers are now stocked with corn. The government’s tampering in the market by subsidizing ethanol is probably a factor in that. The other is that I’m a little late; all the fields I saw had sunflowers sporting tattered petals. There are still a bunch of these little yellow flowers left for some one-on-one time, but it looks like my plans for a stepladder and a field of beautiful golden sunflowers will have to wait until next season.
You be the judge. This old stump is pretty wild looking, as if it came right out of some sort of sci-fi movie.
While blazing the back roads of Morton County I came across this corn field while admiring the tall, wispy clouds. I kept saying over and over that these reminded me of the clouds when I grew up in the Montana Rockies. I was starting to really miss the mountains when I came upon this field. I dashed over to nab the top of the stalks with the clouds behind, then darted back to the truck. My little boy had just called me to say that he had finished his schoolwork for the day and wanted some Daddy time, and asked me to come home as soon as possible! Zoom.
