Sanctuary

Sanctuary

You don’t often see really old Caragana Trees in these parts, which is probably why my eye was so readily drawn to this one along the side of a secondary highway.

Located in a cemetery in Mobile, Newfoundland (in these parts it’s pronounced “mo-bil”, not “mo-bile” or “mo-beel”), this magnificent specimen arches its shielding arms over the headstones of the O’Driscoll Family. There are three stones underneath; they’re all more easily seen from the far side.

This shot was trickier to make than it should have been, since the most eye-catching composition was, in fact, from the other side of the tree. That would have meant shooting almost directly into the sun and the sun was at precisely the wrong height in the sky for that to work well. So I went around the back of the tree and worked with what I could, rendering it in black and white. I plan to come back in autumn, as I suspect the possibilities for this location and that season are dramatic.