“The difference between darkness and brightness is how you thrive on those moments and how you use such circumstances with goodwill in your spirit.” 
― Angelica Hopes

I find myself, on this day in early March, wondering where time has gone. It’s been many weeks since I felt inspired to sit and write. I’ve been out making photos, but the days have been cold, dull, and largely uninspiring.

Today, I set forth to spend some time in nature and see what she had to say to me, among the trees. And, once more, I found myself alone on the trails, the solitude and quite refreshing me. The only sounds I heard were the crunching of my boots in the crisp snow and the gentle breeze among the branches.

I’d only gotten a few minutes into my hike when light snow began to float down around me, further quieting the world around me. The sparse snow soon built into a full squall by the time I got further along the trail, refreshing the scenery and sticking to the thin branches along the trail.

Through this curtain of white, the occasional shimmer of bright colour flashed life into the winter world. The dried leaves of the beech trees, which hold fast throughout the winter, were like orange flames dancing in the dark branches. One that really stood out for me is pictured above. The thin beech tree appears to adorn the large maple behind it with it wonderful leaves, to the point where you hardly notice the beech and are fooled, without closer inspection, to believe the colour belongs to the maple.

It’s moments like this, where I simply need to pause and enjoy the scenes before me that continue to draw me outdoors, regardless of the weather.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 100 mm
1/100 sec, f/5.0, ISO 400

For more images like this, please visit my website (images are available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com