When I am out in the wild with my camera, my eyes are almost always in constant motion, scanning the skies and the ground, the trees and the fields, searching for subjects to photograph. Sometimes, though, I’ll stop, overwhelmed by the natural beauty of my surroundings, and may remain stationary for an extended period of time.
I had such an experience earlier this week when I was checking out a small pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The early morning light was just beginning to illuminate the tops of the trees. Although most of the leaves on the trees have turned brown, the sunlight caused them to glow a little, restoring them for a few precious moments to their former glory.
It may not be traditional to shoot a landscape photo with a telephoto lens, but that is what I had on my camera that moment. I zoomed out my 150-600mm lens to its widest position and tried to compose an image that captured the feeling of the moment.
I don’t shoot landscape images very often and probably violated some of the normal guidelines, but I am pretty happy with this image. Although generally I crop an image to focus a viewer’s attention on my primary subject, that did not seem necessary in this case.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful!!!! Some one should paint that image !!! Don’t get me wrong I really enjoy your critters, but that landscape is breathtaking!
Nice layers of color – it looks frosty!
I think the only guideline that matters is “Capture a beautiful image” – Done!
Beautifully done! It is so wonderful to just be in nature and soak it all in.
Beautiful!
I’ve given up on guidelines. If it captures your heart it will surely capture someones else’s.
Thanks. I haven’t given up totally on guidelines, but I sure don’t look at them as mandatory rules. They are more like suggestions that apply in many situations. I tend to go with my heart, my eye, or my gut in deciding what I like.
Amazing you have that many leaves left! Almost every one of our trees are leafless.