By Scott Shephard

This photo was taken about 15 minutes before the black and white photo I posted a couple days ago called "Rock of Ages." The area had been devastated by a forest fire years before, which resulted in a different look for an area that is normally fairly heavily forested.

This tree line struck me in the way it seemed to be singled out along the top of the ridge. Because all you are seeing here is a silhouette of this area, you wouldn't know that below these trees there is only land, rocks and light vegetation.

The other thing that is striking about this tree line is that the lower branches of the pine trees are gone, leaving these threes to look somewhat like palm trees from a distance. Deb and I developed a theory that the fire didn't destroy the trees you are seeing but did damage the lower branches. Thus, you have this look.

Obviously forest fires are bad because it takes the forest decades to recover. But the results of a fire, once the land has begun to recover, can be striking.

And, for the photographers reading this, I would suggest that the best sunrises rarely show the sun. Further, once the sun comes up, turn around and see what the light is doing to the landscape to the west.

Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/11.0 ISO200 125mm