Trees looking lovely on a gorgeous winter afternoon. We’d walked out beyond the edge of town and up a road that runs through farms. Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand. ~ photos taken today.
Click on any photo to enlarge.
I didn’t bring my camera but asked Nigel to take these photos because the trees looked so nice. Those hills are part of the Blue Mountains that background Tapanui.

When we walked up to the trees I loved the look of the branches and asked Nigel to get a photo of them. He aimed at the very tops and actually sat on the road while holding the camera straight up, in order to get this next shot. It turned out very well. I couldn’t get over the beautiful clear blue sky we had today!

I asked for the camera and took an angle I wanted, simply leaving the camera on the same manual settings he’d had it on and not even changing the focus. Fortunately I got what I wanted … I loved the spreading branches, the white contrast with the shadowed areas, and all of this against the blue sky.

We turned to head home and I asked Nigel to also photograph this tree on the other side of the road, it was lit really well by the afternoon sunshine and shone so white!

Text by Liz, photos by Nigel and Liz; Exploring Colour (2021)
Very nice branching! I do like that first image, inviting me to walk on down that road towards those beautiful hills.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re exactly right! It was very inviting. On this occasion we turned around but another day we’ll return with the intention of walking further up the road.
LikeLiked by 2 people
What a lovely day for a walk – and the first image makes me want to walk down that road too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Winter is such a wonderful time to see the true shapes of the trees and they are quite beautiful against the backdrop of the brilliant blue sky, Liz. I couldn’t help but notice how they grow so asymmetrically–very much unlike the mental picture of trees growing out in more orderly patterns.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We were lucky to get such a clear blue sky now! We tend to have these ideal images of nature in our mind I think .. perhaps it’s easier on our imagination – y’know, averaging things out to something simpler.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The idealized image is helpful for our imagination, but creates problems when trying to sketch or paint something. Rather than rely on what my eyes are seeing, I tell to resort to my mental picture. It’s not just trees, but also things like faces or animals.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you rabirius!
LikeLike