The top portion of a tree is often referred to as the crown. It is a fitting descriptor for such a majestic member of the forest. As I stood in the presence of these stately Fir Trees in the wee hours of the morning, I could not help but wonder at the immensity of the scene before me. In hushed reverence, this wild place was nearly silent. No cars racing to get nowhere fast. No frantic rumble of airplanes. In fact, I heard no sound, short of my own footsteps that could be attributed to humans. All I heard was the relentless meandering of the nearby creek. Even though the moon had set some time ago, the snow on the ground reflected starlight and made everything seem to glow in the dark. I even saw a few meteors streak across the sky, but none chose to enter the composition that I had come here to capture. Nothing is more satisfying to a photographer than discovering that the image you had visualized a few days prior would indeed make a compelling photograph! All I had to do was be there and push the shutter release a few times. The crown of stars alongside the crown of the forest was precisely as I had seen in my mind’s eye, and I walked away as grateful as I could possibly be.
