The stark beauty of a bare oak

Palo Alto Trees is a selection of images from my recent hike up to The Dish in Palo Alto, California. Although I have lived here for nearly six months this was my first walk up to the iconic dish overlooking Stanford University. In this first image I love the curvature of the background suggesting this is a particularly special tree rising alone on the top of the world.

The sun makes the air visible to me. Since I was child the trees in my hamlet in Texas were mysteries to me and places to ponder my misery and also my plans to triumph. I lived a life like a Wes Anderson film and trees in this pattern are beautiful reminders of where I come from and the imagination it took me to get here.

Juliet spotted this lone stump brimming with character. This seems like a signpost in Dodge City or along some wagon trail to hell. The texture in the wood is in such harmony with the grass and the tree behind. I like this image very much.

The final Palo Alto trees are opposite forces sitting in the deep Serengeti-like grass. The area is known to be a haven for mountain lions and coyotes and they strictly usher everyone out by dark. I found myself walking with an eye to the heavy rocks I could grab in case I needed to go a round or two with a Puma.

I took all images of Palo Alto trees with the Nikon D7000 with 18-205 lens. I used Snapseed only to process the images and all were tweaked in numerous ways.