In the valley of the shadow of blue

@amy: Arigato, Amy. This is one of two shots ahhh took. The second has slightly less foreground than this one hyar but it wasn't enough to get the whole frikkin tree in the frame (Dachimas has a super-sized width on his new camera and methinks he was able to capture the entirity of this beast). Having placed that on the permanent record, I think the shadows and colours rock, and I wanted to ensure I got as much of them in the frame as I could without distorting the rule of thirds perspective. As the American Express crew says: I don't leave home without my polarising filter (or underpants). Canola or yellowla? I'm balancing on the fence at the moment. ;) As always, thanks for your comment.

@celialee: Me too. It was almost a surreal state of affairs; Dachimas and I had spent the better part of dawn photographing the sun rising over the lake. Then we shifted gears in the automobile in search of anything worth snapping when we happened to cross this dirt road that caught my eye because of its amazing trees. The lighting was sublime yet mottled and somewhat deranged, like an escaped asylum patient in a schoolboy's uniform (see Angus Young). Yeah...primo surreal.

Thanks for your visit.

@Seraphine: Thank you very much, Seraphine. The yellow (green?) flowers in the background could be canola. Then again, they could be weeds. I'm no expert in that regard but I do agree with your assessment of the colour progression here. It was yet another stunning creation from our Mother Nature.