Old Things

a window into history

Old things. They've seen a lot. They know our history. Heirlooms passed down through families, mountains made in the first days of earth, trees that have seen hundreds of years. And they remember all of it. Stories cling to heirlooms, tales of love and loss and all the things that happen to people through the years. Buried in the folds of earth below mountains and in the rings of trees lie secrets, await memories. Trees show scars of fires, bullets from wars, thicker rings whisper of lush rains and renaissances of fertile growth. To archeologists, old things mean history, figuring out how people long forgotten once lived. Old things are an irreplaceable link to our past. This week, for old things, I chose to take a picture of a tree. Wrinkles pattern its flesh, and many branches grasp at unknown prizes. I chose this particular picture because it follows the rule of thirds, has an interesting perspective, and I felt it captures the tree well. I chose to make it sepia and followed the tutorial, and added a small amount of noise. I'm afraid I've forgotten whether I used an action before that or not, as it was before the weekend and I just don't remember, but I probably used Ashley's clean... I think. I like the angle of this photo and how its bark looks like wrinkled tissue paper with the light. As to improvements, I feel like the two pine trees in the background distract from the focus a little bit, and it might have more impact without them. Overall, I am quite pleased with this photo. I wish I could've also used the other picture, which I liked just about as much. In fact, though the first picture is the one I want graded, I will also include it here....

This is the same picture, just with selective color instead of sepia. I did not choose it because it does not look quite as old, but I think it still looks awesome. (I commented on Beth's)

This week beyond the violet mist, we explored our past through things left behind in time...