Wonderful patterns and textures in this, Guy. I do kind of wish all the holes in it weren’t along one edge with the bottom one chopped off by it. The bits of snow and their texture add nicely to the ensemble to me. Have you played with rotating this image to various orientations to see how it looks? I think it could be fun to do so, though it’s not always productive.
Guy, you found a fine group of textures, colors and shapes. Having spent some time look at tree bark through various lenses, I know the challege of getting a good comp. and keeping it all sharp. I’m chuckling about how much the woodpeckers have enjoyed this old Birch tree.
Hi @Dennis_Plank, @Mark_Seaver, I appreciate your taking the time to contemplate and comment on the image. The Pileateds had spent quite a while on it, the cycle of life in action.
Love this - what a great nature story! The horizontal/diagonals of the outside bark against the reddish-brown inner bark (whatever that’s called,) make a terrific combo - again, a great nature story of the “life of the birch tree”
For me, it is all about the peeling bark and the central part of the image. With that, I could see cropping out the little buff of snow at the bottom and perhaps cropping some off the top - even as much to eliminate the dark whole up there. Part of this is because I personally don’t always like the tall vertical and I think your story here can be simplified further. In fact, I think cropping top and bottom would make this more abstract. Of course it’s all subjective and might not be your desired outcome.
For sure, I love the texture and the nature story that you’ve captured with the white bark peeling away (over time, seasons) exposing that inner bark.
I love macro abstracts, especially tree bark, and this is a very good one. Good variety of colors and textures; nicely composed. I do agree with some comments about the woodpecker holes; if this were my image, I’d crop them all out since they seem to unbalance the composition. Perhaps a recomposition to make the holes more central to the composition would be an alternative approach. I like the bit of snow as a counterpoint to the bark.
