Beautiful, Purposeful, Transitory Flesh

Saucer Magnolias 2010, originally uploaded by 0 W8ing.

This tree stands in a location that doesn’t give me clean access to its blossom bounty, but it does display them where I can get to the bottom-most ones. I don’t always get to them in their prime, but I do like the way they show their vulnerability and weathering.

Winter’s Flight is pretty much done. . .

This jet trail dominated our wintry sky, the other day, and begged a foreground to make it work. Daylight leaving at jet speed, I chose the first vantage point I could find, and was fortunate to find three elements I liked for it.. the view of the expanse of sky, the hard lines and contrasts of the parking lot lights, and the bare trees.. the Birds were an absolute bonus. I would have waited another few seconds, for the car at bottom to leave, but was rudely interrupted by someone behind me who didn’t know what I was up to, and therefore just thought I was daydreaming or something.. this in a parking lot that had other exits besides mine, but.. OhWell.
I did have time to bracket for HDR combining, and though I chose not to open up the shadows so much, since most of what was on the ground wasn’t key to this photo, I think the image benifits from the HDR treatment. I used a trial version of Unified Color’s HDR Studio 2. ( www.unifiedcolor.com/ )