Stumped – Boardman Tree Farm

The title of this image is Stumped for obvious reasons. In the fall of 2015, I had the opportunity to spend a day at the Boardman Tree Farm in Northeast Oregon. This is a spectacular area and wonderful place to photograph trees grown in a farm setting. The regular and repeating patterns of the trees create unique and interesting compositions not often found in nature.

There is a magical aura that exists within the tree farm. I have never seen anything like it. The air just glowed, wrapping the trees in a soft golden blanket with colors stolen from the autumn leaves above. The day was overcast and the mood somber with intermittent rain showers occasionally passing through. Ahh, rain… it is not particularly good for camera gear or cold photographers either for that matter. My friends and I were forced to sit in the car, eagerly waiting for a rather heavy shower to pass.

Fortunately, this disappointment quickly changed to excitement when I saw the interesting patterns that the rain was creating on the trunks of the trees. I had to move quickly to find a pleasing composition before the rain patterns evaporated. My eye was instantly drawn to a random stump propped against a tree. Why was this stump here when everything else was so neat and orderly? For some unknown reason, this single stump failed to be disposed of with all the others from the previous harvest. It was unique in a place where nothing else stood out above the crowd.

It makes me wonder why I was attracted to this uniqueness? In a way, I can visualize society as the trees of conformity, yet in every individual, there is glorious uniqueness, something to be sought out and savored in each of us.

This image was featured in the blog post, Autumn Photography at the Boardman Tree Farm by my friend Adele M. Buttolph, a photographer also residing in Northeast Oregon.