By Scott Shephard

Generally, I avoid showing photos that might make people ask, “What the h. is that!!?” But here’s an exception. Today, it might be especially true for people who have never stood nose to bark with a palm tree.

But here you have it - an up-close-and-personal view of a majestic palm as it posed laconically for me during a recent visit to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, Arizona. As I often do, I’ve reduced it to black and white so you can more thoroughly appreciate the lines, textures and symmetry of this beautiful specimen.

Canon R5 1/50 sec f/4.0 ISO 125