Temperate forests are located within humid biomes of North America and Eurasia that have distinct warm and cool seasons. They are dominant in broadleaf (ie: oak, beech, maple) with a coniferous mixed in (ie: pine, fir, spruces).
Temperate rainforest: Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington
Temperate Mixed: Hillman State Park, Pennsylvania
Other posts in this series on Forests: Temperate Forests, Coniferous Forests, Deciduous Forests, Cold Dry Forests, Hot Dry Forests
When you think of a forest you may entertain images of lush green wooded areas rich and dense with marvelous mix of deciduous and evergreen trees, thick shrubs and verdant plants. If you grew up anywhere east of the Mississippi this may be your first image of a forest as it was mine before my first trip west.
Several years ago I drove through the Inyo National Forest in eastern California and while I knew I was in a forest (that’s what the sign said) I wondered where those lush green trees were. While national forests have more to offer than my idea traditional forest, we drove for hours and found few trees, only shrubs, bristle cone pines and Joshua trees. The purpose of the national forest is to preserve the wilderness in its many different forms.
Same trip, while driving through Washington I noticed the mountains covered in evergreens, not a deciduous tree anywhere. Not the forests I was used to.
Knowing there were many types of forests was one thing but seeing them, experiencing them, transports you to a whole different world.
These are some different types of forests I will be covering in subsequent posts: tropical and temperate rainforests, conifer (cone bearing), deciduous (leaf shedding), temperate mixed (both cone bearing and leaf shedding), savannah (sparse trees), Mediterranean (California coast), xerophytic (desert) and wetlands.
Other posts in this series on Forests: Temperate Forests, Coniferous Forests, Deciduous Forests, Cold Dry Forests, Hot Dry Forests
Cooper River Bridge, Charlotte NC
City Park, New Orleans LA 
Vicksburg Bridge, Mississippi
Covered Bridge at Shadyside Park, IN
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There’s nothing special about this photograph, no amazing elements, no dramatic effects, no eye-popping subject but when I see this picture my eyes and my heart are drawn into it. The yellow bushes pop out and scream “warmth”. When I took this photo I had recently left the cold, damp northeast for a month in the southwest. What I noticed about the desert landscape is its ability to warm you to the core and melt all stresses trapped in the body.
Great Dunes wasn’t my favorite nor was there anything particularly remarkable about this photo but I can’t help but be drawn into its landscape.
Great Dunes National Park, Colorado
Ghost towns have a way of showing the reality of life that all things change and ways of life end. Mormon row is a testament of the courageous people who braved rugged terrain, starvation, illness and lack of resources to forge a better life. As I wandered around the long deserted buildings I thought about the life the former inhabitants experienced, “what life was like for them” and “what they must have thought at the sight of these majestic mountains.”
Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park
This photograph was taken at the Grand Canyon during my first photography trip. Then I had no idea what to do about cloudy, gray skys. I focused in on Sumner butte and loved the resulting contrasts. I look at the photograph and feel as if I’m falling into the landscape.
As I pulled into my campground I thought “where am I again?”, is this really Kentucky? I woke to this site everyday…what a view. I had been traveling in Tennessee and Kentucky for several weeks and only found one other place open for camping. It was a breath of fresh air when I discovered the Land Between the Lakes NRA.
Photography is an act of love; love for the art and love for the subject. Photographs don’t just capture a moment in time or a place in time but the heart of the capturer; their perspective. Photographers endeavor to evoke feeling, a longing to be transported into the photograph.
At the end of this post you will find more photos of this landscape
When you see a beautiful photograph of a colorful sunset, what do you notice? The colors, the contrasts, the subject? My daughter sent me a postcard of a colorful red sunset with reflections dancing over the ocean with palm trees contrasting the colorful play on the water. I was captured I was in the moment of this magnificent view.
Gaze at this photograph for a moment. What do you see? Feel? What are the details? What is the subject? Let your eyes take a step back. What do you see? What do you think is there just outside the borders of the photograph, more of the same or something drastically different?
Photography isn’t just art, its transformative abilities create love of place, it draws you into its sadness or joy, into the heart of the subject.
Over the next few days I will post a few photographs that still transport my heart and soul to another place.
Different Takes on the same landscape
Something a little different
A little more of the same
Sand Sledders, a little different take on the same landscape
All photos were taken at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
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