Soft Light In The Pines
Things happen for a reason.
The light was perfect for this kind of image. I was hiking in Wharton State Forest in The Pinelands on a late November Sunday afternoon. It was the kind of soft filtered light you get when the sun is shining through a high, milky white sky. It's the kind of light that seems to happen more in late autumn and winter. If I had tried to make this photo on a clear sunny day, it would have been too harsh - with deep shadows on the ground and white branches that would have been too bright. Instead, I found myself staring at these bare winter trees under perfect conditions - I was at the right place, at the right time, under the right light.
I didn't plan it that way...
I was originally going to be there the day before - which turned out to be a bright, sunny, cloudless day. My plan was to do a quick hike in a woodland near my home to make photos of the last autumn leaves in the forest and then spend the rest of the day in the Pinelands. But my plans were changed for me. Does anyone know how hard it is to find an earth-green colored camera backpack in a boulder-strewn forest covered with fallen leaves? I do! I put my backpack on the ground (like I always do) to take the first image of the day - but then moved a few yards and took another image - then moved again because the boulders over there looked great - then moved again for yellow leaves backlit by the sun - then moved again for more boulders covered in leaves - then walked further up the hill for a different angle. Ok, where's my camera backpack?
Almost two hours later, after nervously walking the woodland back and forth in a systematic pattern to cover all the ground, after first being amused, then getting annoyed, then getting mad, then cursing so bad it made autumn's last leaves drop from the trees... I found the backpack - with all my lenses... and my phone... and my car keys.
I was aggravated - I had the day all mapped out and this dumb two hour delay prevented me from making the drive to the Pinelands as I originally planned. I would have to go tomorrow, when it wouldn't be nearly as nice and sunny, because clouds were forecast to move in.
And that's how I ended up at the right place, at the right time, under the right light.
Brian