Oak Ridge Estate in Arrington VA

We didn’t get all the way up to the 1802 estate house. We were driving back home yesterday from central Virginia after spending Thanksgiving with our family. I was on the look out for a solitary tree in a field. It would be the subject of the 52frames photo challenge this week. I needed to mimic a photographer and try to create an image that might look like his. I found an Iranian photographer that takes photos of trees in black and white, using shadows and the sun as a back light. The place where the giant white oak is located is called Oak Ridge estate and was recommended by our son. And on this estate stands the 400 year old oak tree. We really didn’t know what to expect when we turned off highway 29. It was obviously a horse farm and has gone through a few renovations over the long history. And there it was in the distance. You couldn’t miss it. We stopped by the side of the road and then I jumped out of the car and ran up towards it. The wind was howling and it was very cold. The tree was enormous  - easily 42 feet high and God knows how many feet wide. I was on private property - there were three graves under the tree - all of very young people - recently decreased. I wished my husband was with me so he could have seen it all too. On the way back he took a photo of me next to the tree. It is remarkable. So after editing the photo to mimic a known photographer I definitely will use one of the images for the photo challenge. It was an interesting side stop on our way home and very different from photos that I usually take.