Weekly Photo Challenge – Future

Hopefully in a few months these peony shoots will grow into flowering bushes.

Waiting Behind The Leaf

This spider spun its web across the leaves of some aquatic vegetation and then sat, waiting behind a leaf for its breakfast to arrive.

Frozen Blue Jay Feather

I was up early one winter morning and discovered this blue jay feather laying on a frosty bed of moss.  Click on the image to see the larger, more detailed photo.

Jones Run Cascade

This cascade along Jones Run in Shenandoah National Park provided an interesting photographic experience.  My friend was smart enough to stay at the top.  Despite my better judgement I decided to hike down a little farther from the trail.  Just as I was thinking I needed to be careful on the leaves and wet rocks, I stepped on a patch of wet moss covering a large, flat downward sloping stone.  As the moss gave way I began sliding down the rock face, watching my camera bounce off the stones beneath me and hoping I would be able to stop myself.  Fortunately my slide came to an end before I got to the actual waterfall, about 6 feet beyond the point from which I took this picture.

Forest Still Life

During a hike I noticed this piece of bark resting on stones by the side of the trail.  I was initially intrigued by the texture and patterns in the bark itself.  My first thought was to get a close up of the texture but when I noticed the bark was sitting between two shadows I thought it made for an interesting forest still life.

Tree Fallen in Water

This tree once stood tall and provided shelter and possibly food to many of its forest companions.  Seeing it laying, lifelessly in the water reminded me of the simple truth of mortality.  Not in a morbid or depressing way, just as an immutable law of nature.  Keeping that in mind, we should all live each moment to its fullest.

Gold and Red

These wildflowers already lost most of their pedals before I took this photograph.  I wanted to capture the bright yellow of the flowers against the backdrop of the red vine leaves climbing the tree in the background.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary

Hiking through the woods I found this single, orange leaf that had fallen into a sea of brown.  It struck me as quite a standout and a good candidate for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge topic “Solitary”.