Mixed Feelings by photosynthesis
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Description
Trees are living things. They grow. They're alive. They're beautiful. But we cut them down. To build houses, to make furniture, to turn into paper, to burn as a source of heat for the winter - all very practical & useful activities. This remnant of a madrone tree sits on the hill behind my house on property that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. It was cut down as part of a thinning process to reduce the danger of forest fires. Was it necessary to amputate this particular tree's limbs? I don't know for sure, but we definitely live in an area where fires happen & can cause real damage to lives & property. We have had our car loaded & been prepared to evacuate on a couple of occasions since we've lived here, but thanks to the heroic efforts of firefighters, we were able to stay. I feel a certain amount of sadness in this scene, a certain amount of necessity & despite the mortal wound it has suffered, a certain amount of beauty that still remains...
Comments (11)
jayfar
As you say it still retains its beauty.
Celart
Great textures in this one.
alanwilliams
we all live and then we die, beauty in decay
Juliette.Gribnau
nice capture
Faemike55
Wonderful capture and beautiful and deep thoughts
pimanjc
Very nice.
auntietk
It's all about balance. The grain we eat, the fish and fowl we consume ... it's all balance. A beautiful shot.
UVDan
Those fires claim lives as well as trees. God bless all who have lost their lives fighting wildfires! A beautiful shot!
bmac62
A bit of beauty in an arrested state. You raise an interesting question...I always like the way you stop to "smell the roses".
MrsRatbag
There is beauty in all stages of life, as you show so well here. They fell trees here too, for the wrong reasons--development! What a lovely and sensitive capture of this tree's remains.
anahata.c
perfect title, much positive and negative, and they don't 'resolve' each other, they live side by side. The image, In zoom, blooms into a big undulant spill; it's beautiful, Claude. The woods' blues against all those deep reds---a symphony. And as always, you capture much motion in still objects (the lines in the wood), and so much of nature's rhythms in the ground cover. Powerful music. At least these trees are cut down to save lives---a lot better than some of the things we do with trees. The Ojibway had a prayer, when killing a buffalo, that said that, while they have to kill it, they're infinitely grateful that the beast will give its life so these people may live. The prayer recounts all the things their people will do with the buffalo, including using its hide for tents, its sinews for bows, its meat for...etc. It acknowledges the loss, even while they kill it. And there's another Native American practice where, before cutting down a tree, the cutter tells other trees he's about to cut, so that the trees will send warnings to all the trees in the forest, so when the cutter cuts, the original tree will be prepared. Revering its power even as he fells it. Somehow related to your thoughts. Beautiful image, Claude, and as always I appreciate your thoughts on all you see...