I’m not quite sure why I find lone trees so interesting. Is it somehow symbolic of the lone individual? Do I imagine Gary Cooper in “High Noon”, standing alone against the gang of outlaws? Or maybe Alan Ladd in “Shane”? I give away my age when I reference these two classic movies, but isn’t there something heroic in human lore about the rugged individual standing alone against the world? All I know is that whenever I see one of these old, gnarly trees that show the evidence of hardships, I feel strangely proud of them, and sad at the same time.

I learned from friends that this tree was finally felled by a storm. I drove back up to see for myself, and there standing by the side of the road, I wept.

Pentax K5IIs with 70mm f2.4 lens, processed in Photoshop CS4 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

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I don’t know how many people today remember Hoagy Carmichael, and yet whenever I come across a scene like this I am immediately reminded of his songs. Though he did not write the lyrics (those were by Stuart Gorrell), that line, “Georgia on my mind“, or the line “moonlight through the pines“, it’s Hoagy’s melody that echoes in my head.

If you have seen, and can remember the movie, “To Have, and Have Not”, the movie where Humphrey Bogart meets Lauren Bacall (all you have to do is whistle), you might also remember Hoagy as the cigarette smoking piano player. Maybe too, you will remember that Hoagy composed one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. According to Wikipedia, “Stardust” has been recorded more that 1,500 times.

Odd how a stroll in the moonlight can have that effect on me.

Olympus OMD EM5 with 20mm f1.7 lens.

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