After a long afternoon in Santa Ynez of photographing oak trees and not really liking them much I decided to head home. The sun was about to set as I started the 50 minute drive to my home. It’s a beautiful drive especially at that time of day but I want to get home and eat dinner. I drove right past this tree and happened to glance and saw the moon above! The lighting looked perfect but it was getting dark fast so I turned my car around and pulled over and parked on the side of the road. I grabbed my camera and tripod and set it up and found a decent composition. I didn’t think I had time because it was getting pretty dark but I got a bit lucky I think.

I’ve made several versions of this photograph (one in black and white) but I like this one best because it feels more like what the conditions were at that time - summer, warmth, sunset etc…

I may do a blog post soon showing the original “RAW” photograph and a few of the variations.