Beauty in South Central Texas

 

Beauty in South Central Texas

We spent about 3 weeks in the area around San Antonio and found beauty in several different areas around there.  Take a look –

Morning on the Golf Course

Often, when looking at a golf course, you can get lost in the idea of where the golf balls need to go.  But, one morning, the sun in the sky didn’t let me forget that it’s also a snippet of nature, even though it may be located very close to a city.  Early spring means you can see the silhouettes of the trees clearly with warm clouds behind them.  Take a moment to embrace the quiet.

Line of Trees

The pond in front of these trees isn’t very large, but it was still and that was most important to allow me to capture their mirrored reflection.  It’s moments like this that bring the beauty of nature home to those who take the time to notice them.

Incoming

At a natural area close to the Medina River in Texas, there was a small garden.  In the garden, was an orchid tree.  I had never really known that orchids could grow on trees, and I was spending a few moments photographing the blooms.  Suddenly, a busy little bee decided that he had work to do and just flew into my camera range.  What lucky timing!

Near the Pond

It’s a quiet morning in the middle of spring.  The trees are starting to fill in with leaves and green becomes the color of the day every day!  There are morning clouds that look like they might be thinking of raining, but the sun is starting to burn through them.  Enjoy the green in changing light.

Walking Along the Medina River

There is a path that runs along the Medina River, and when walking along the river, it sometimes feels like you are walking onto the set of some sort of fairy tale.  It’s cool from both the river’s effect on the temperature and the shade of the trees.  This felt like some sort of hidden spot where almost anything could happen.

Reflection

The river’s current is running silent and deep enough that it was impossible to get a sense of it by looking at the rocks in the river.  It appears as calm as calm can be and like a mirror.  It’s impossible to tell from this closer image how fast the water is moving, due to how smooth it is.  You get a sense of peace gazing at the rocks in the river.

Enjoy!

Foggy Morn

One thing about camping next to a golf course – when it’s foggy, it’s hard to see the little flag that identifies each hole, and so they don’t get in the way of some lovely early morning foggy images.

Enjoy!

Lone Trees

As we explored one section of the Organ Mountain National Monument, and we walked the beginning of a trail, I noticed some lovely trees, as they stood silhouetted against the clouds that seemed heavy with snow.

Lone Tree

I first noticed this lone trees, branches still bare from winter’s chill.  Spring has not yet reached this small tree’s branches, and they seem to accentuate the chill that still existed in the air with the snow clouds behind it.

Trees on the Ridgeline

As I stepped back from the view of the one lone tree, I was struck by the lines drawn by nature.  There are now a string of 3 trees, some of which are already reflecting green boughs, along a ridgeline of a hill that dips to form part of a small canyon, with the larger mountains in the background forming the other canyon walls.  The intersecting lines of the two mountains in the background with the hill in the foreground seemed to compliment the line of the trees in a way that only nature seems to carelessly perfect.  And, the cold feel to the clouds hanging low offsets the warm golden color of the ground cover in the foreground.

Enjoy!

Foto Art Friday – February 10, 2017

The Path Less Taken

I had been thinking about the Robert Frost poem “The Road Less Traveled” and I remembered an image I captured a few years back when my husband, Jeff, and I were walking in the woods not far from where we live in New Mexico.  The image was of a path in the woods, one that clearly was not taken very often by hikers.  And, yet, it held great promise, with sunlight glimmering up ahead, just out of view.  The image that is the foundation of this piece brings the feeling of that poem to mind.  Sometimes, it is the path that not many have taken that will yield the best rewards in life, but only if we chance it and follow it.  As Robert Frost said, it can make all the difference.

The Path Less Taken

Enjoy!

This piece is available as a print and in a variety of other formats on www.fineartamerica.com/profiles/nadine-berg

Trees…..

I decided that it had been too long since I took myself out on one of my photo op drives.  Generally, when I do this during the winter months (and it officially turned “winter” just a few days ago), I venture out during a snowstorm, so I can get some wonderful images of the landscape and trees covered in snow, or in the midst of a snow globe type environment.  This day, it was brilliant sunshine, and the only snow was on the distant mountain tops. 

Old Fenceline

Winter in New Mexico can be many things.  Today, it was blue skies and dead grass that appeared to be golden.  Add in a rickety gate on a barbed wire fence line, and you have a curiously warm feeling image of a tree in its winter sleep.  Winter days can sometimes seem never-ending, and the fence line sort of mirrors that feeling, as well as the sense of space that comes from being in rural New Mexico.

Fenceline Tree

Further down the road, and actually on a small dirt road off the main route I was taking, I came across this perfectly proportioned tree, with, again, a fence line leading me toward it.  If you look closely, you can see the snow-capped mountains in the background, sort of hidden by the tree.  It looks as if the fenceline, and the road alongside it, lead to the mountains.  Ah, but here, looks can be deceiving.  Just like the tree looks rather dead, but yet, makes me imagine what it will be like in the spring and summer, full of life.

Roadside Beauty

On the same dirt road, but a bit closer to my main route for this part of my journey today, I found this wonderful tree and view.  The things that draws me to this image are the lines of the fenceline, dirt road and power/telephone poles all leading to what seems to be a single point in the distance.  It sort of reminded me of how many different experiences in our life can end up leading us to the same realization of where we’re meant to be.  Which path shall we follow?

Gnarly Tree

I truly love the look of this tree.  I have to give you a bit of forewarning – keep an eye out for it in future photo collages of mine!  It has such wonderful character.  And, no, it’s truly not dead.  At least, I don’t think it is.  I believe it will once again bloom when the warm winds of spring arrive.  However, for now, I thought it was so stark, that only a black & white version truly suited its personality.

New Mexico Winter

Ah, a change of perspective!  Isn’t it amazing how viewing the same tree differently can affect how we see it?  In this image, the wonderfully magical New Mexico light has transformed it.  Yes, the tree and its companion are still without leaves, but the blue sky and light of the white wisps of clouds almost make the tips of the tree seem like they are alight!  The mountains in the background, with their snow caps, remind us that it truly is a bit nippy out there in the brilliant light.  It’s just a much more optimistic view of the same tree – and reminds us how a change of perspective can affect how we see our own reality!

Enjoy!