Awe and Respect

Thats a lovely shot Floris. I have been fortunate to see some of the Bristlecone Pines on my one and only trip to the States but the ones I saw were all pretty small albeit still ancient looking. This fella seems to be a giant or the fella holding the tree up (is it you?) is a midget.

Yeah, that is one massive looking tree--is this foreshortened or something? Anyhow, this has real appealing elements, and the tree is magnificent, but to be honest im not sure it comes together for me; too many things competing--is it the man, the tree or the mountain that is the subject here?, and then there is the fg vegetation drawing my attention there. You probably never should have posted that wicked witch shot cause it's probably subliminally makeing me pick this to pieces, lol. I just think this needs a stronger focus, but i appreciate the challenge here.

that twisted mess of wood is so damn intriguing !

Awesome shot! I love how elements of the two ranges (Sierra Nevada, White Mountain Range) collide. And the human in the image gives the tree scale. Is this one exposure? OR did you need a GND?

Jared

The shot is very nice and I like it alot but what really blows me away is that tree! It looks much bigger than other pictures I have seen of this tree and I don't see any green so I'm wondering is the tree alive or dead?

Thanks folks!

This was two exposures, for dynamic range - I couldn't get a GND to work here because of the longer focal length. Shooting this at long focal length (200-300ish I think) did a number of things, such as emphasize the scale of the tree. This particular specimen is very dead, but there are many that are half like this, and half alive and well, it really is a tough life up there!

Thanks for the crit Stan, I can see where you're coming from, but like you said, we may both be biased

Great image Floris. I love twisted old trees like this.

Interesting use of the person to provide an impressive sense of scale.

Floris, did you shoot this comp without the human figure as well? If so, I'd love to see it.

Thanks Kerry, yes, I shot a very similar one without the person -

http://florisvanbreugel.smugmug.com/photos/598394785_zc2Tu-O.jpg

Thanks for the link, Floris. Excellent telephoto landscape imagery.

Floris,
You're really working this bristlecone.... I'm really glad you have! What a fabulous creature. I'm not viewing this as fine art photography, but more as documentation. Thanks for sharing the scale of this tree. I can't imagine being next to this life form, and not putting your hand on it and gazing upwards. Thanks for sharing this.

Great use of lines here and I like the use of the telephoto to really bring in the subjects through compression. The sunset is off the hook and the image would have looked great either with or without your friend

Great man and nature shot. The horizontal landscape lines, the craggy mountain tops, the pine and man leaning into each other. Real nice.

Floris: Marvelous lines and textures here. The disparate layers really make for a superb comp. Very well done.>=))>