Some of My Favorite Things

I came across a gorgeous photo essay of trees at Time Magazine. Although I don't like the blatant bias of alarmist global warming that Time is pushing, the essay is still worth looking at. It was taken by Magnum photographer Stuart Franklin.

Although I don't fancy myself a good photographer, I love photographing trees. It's amazing how much, especially at this time of year, trees are on my mind. I find them incredibly beautiful and calming.
In Judaism trees hold a special significance. There's even a Jewish holiday, Tu B'Shevat, "New Year of the Tree," where typically people plant trees or collect money to plant trees in Israel. On a side note, while living in Israel, I found it really funny that Israelis revere trees, yet don't mind littering in forests. If the Jews worshiped an idol, it would probably be a tree.
I have two favorite trees where I live. There's the tree in front of my house that blooms every year for about two weeks, I never get a chance to photograph it. This is year, with my digital camera not working (frickin Sony), I thought it would be the same as the years before. But then I got my old Rebel out and (gasp) used actual film to photograph the tree.
The second tree is in the back, I especially love the way it looks at night. I have photographed it many times.