Category: Trees

When I’m shooting pictures with my camera, my focus is usually straight ahead at some object or landscape, or down while capturing the image of a flower or plant but, comparatively seldom am I looking up. I have had to train myself over the years to see what’s going on above me.

I took this picture in May of 2023 at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois near Lake Marmo. It is simply a grouping of trees along the path that gave me not only pause but a literal and spiritual sense of something bigger, greater than me; a looking up, if you will, to consider those lovely things that seem to be out of reach and yet, ever so attainable.

If you have read many of our stories you’ll know by now the Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois, is one of our favorite places for pictures, rest, relaxation, beauty, inspiration, enjoying nature and each other, reading, and so on.

Every year the Arboretum has a weeks-long event called Illumination. In very general terms it is a light/laser light show, in the trees and sky, accompanied by music. Frankly, it is beyond the description of words and my general description doesn’t begin to do justice to the genius and hard work that must go into its preparation.

This picture, taken on the last day of the Illumination event of 2022-2023, January 7, 2023, to be exact, shows the moon, which had a significant presence in the midst of all of the other lights, framed by the limbs of a tree tinged in blue from one the lasers, that were in abundance that beautiful, mystical, colorful night that was filled with discovery, awe, and visuals beyond imagination!

This is an October 2022 view of the advent of autumn colors as seen atop Frost Hill, one of the panoramic views to be found with the Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois.

This picture, as well as Trees – Untitled #79, can be found in our Etsy Shop.

This image is the same as Trees – Untitled #95 excepted for some editing/color differences.

The story behind this picture can be found by reading the story behind Trees – Untitled #95.

This is a picture of a cotton bush. It is neither a tree nor a flower but we put it in the trees category in the absence of a bush category.

It was taken in October of 2022 during a stroll around the pond at Prairie Walk Pond in Lisle, Illinois. The colors of Fall are evident in this bush while some parts still retain green leaves. Nearly all of the colors of the spectrum are on display here with the help of the water of the pond in the background.

There were three pictures taken that day that are available in our Etsy Shop. Flowers – Untitled #72, this picture, and its companion, being the same image, Trees – Untitled #87, with a bit of a vintage look.

We were at the Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois on this August 2023 late afternoon, heading back to our car after having taken 20 or more pictures. The angle of the sun and its rays coming through the trees decorating the landscape with brilliant light in some areas, casting shadows in other gave an unusually ethereal feeling in the moment.

“Cathedral” is the word that came to mind as the curved branch in the foreground seemed to offer a doorway into splendor, peace, enlightenment, and revelation.

We were driving along one late summer day in 2022 and came upon a sharp curve in the road to the right. As I negotiated the curve, out of the corner of my eye to the left, I saw what I thought, in that fleeting moment, a body of water surrounded by some trees. We tried to mark the spot and plan our return.

Return we did, in fact, later that year in October. The was no entrance to that area from the thoroughfare we had been on previously and after considerable searching we finally found the pond which lay within the confines of the College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

The weather was perfect, a slight breeze put the trees in motion, and in the surroundings the autumn colors were in full array. There was a relatively small patch of ground there, the rest being undergrowth or water, but it was ample to take a variety of colorful pictures.

One of the trees there was this willow tree whose long hanging branches swayed most beautifully in the breeze. It was quite captivating and resulted in a picture taken that day being in our Etsy Shop in two versions. Trees – Untitled #91, which is the original picture, and this picture which is an edited version that captures a bit of the mystique of that day.

During a walk down one of the many hiking trails in the Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois, we came across another, steeper, less traveled path that led downward into this clearing. I’ll never forget the sense of peace and yet mystery, stillness, but the feeling of being accompanied by “something” we could not see but strongly perceived. It was unusually quiet; not even much of the winds blowing through the trees to which we were so accustomed. An occasional bird calling out, perhaps, but a tranquility, a place of repose, but not so much a place as a state of being in those woods and walking about as if we were on holy ground.

These were the moments in October 2022, one of which we kept in this picture. Another picture in our Etsy Shop taken that day is Trees – Untitled #89.

This is the original and companion of Trees – Untitled #90.

To read the story behind this picture, please read the story of Trees – Untitled #90.

This is a picture of a honey locust tree. The tree is profusely covered with thorns. They are real, they are sharp, and they do hurt!

I present this picture in black and white, which is almost a true representation of the tree and its accompanying thorns as both are a dark grey to black. I feel like the timing on this picture is ideal with respect to the angle of the sun as the shadows of the thorns add highlight to this most interesting tree.

We captured this image in September 2022 at the Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois. Another picture in our shop from that day is Untitled #58.