You can’t experience a place like the Pines fully unless you see it at all different times of the year at all different times of day and night. This photo came out of a hike that started at 4am. My buddy Karin and I stumbled through the dark in the late fall for several hours with the moonlight barely penetrating the dense pines. The trail crossed several sand roads and we arrived at this one just as the sun rose. In this photo, I caught the just above the road with a cold morning mist still dominating the air.
When you learn landscape photography in the shadow of photographers like Ansel Adams it becomes second nature to try to preserve the detail in the darkest shadows and brightest highlights of a photograph. In this case it seemed better to let the deep shadows go black. At this moment the sun was still a tiny burst of warm light barely penetrating a cold and misty darkness.
The magic in the Pinelands isn’t always available at reasonable hours. Fortunately I was crazy enough be there for this little piece of magic. The photo was taken with a Lumix LX5 camera.
composed and handled perfectly… can feel the cool air and coming light.
Great image and fitting title. One can see just the right amount of detail in the dark, creating a wonderful mood in the image.