Old growth in abstract

Walking in an old growth temperate rainforest is, well, awesome. But, taking an inspiring photo of that same forest is surprisingly difficult.  So, after a couple very rainy days in the Walbran Valley on Vancouver Island, I gave up. Then I changed my tactics.

Instead of trying to capture a perfect image of the forest, I took my camera off the tripod and left the shutter open for a long exposure while I slowly moved the camera up and down.  It took many tries to produce a shot that was reasonable, but it was a refreshing way to look at the trees around me.

For me, the image below captures something of the surreal nature of these forests that I was unable to re-create using more traditional techniques.