Tree Tunnels

Tree tunnels have long been a source of fascination for me.  Every now and again, in life, you run across one that is just fabulous.  As they are few and far between, I never forget the ones I have seen.  Unfortunately, a lot of my old photos from Europe are no more, but I do have a couple left.  They're not the greatest because they are scans of scans of negatives, which I am not very adept at, but they evoke memories of the places I have been and serve that purpose well.  These first two are from Italy, taken somewhere in or near the town of Gaeta, where I lived at one time.

Having made plans to do some work in Florida, via a short stay in the mountains of N. Carolina, I decided to stop in Savanah, for the sole purpose of photographing the tree tunnel at the Wormsloe Plantation.  I'd seen and admired this shot many times over the years and wanted one for my very own. There's not much left there, but some ruins of a few buildings and some recreations of some workers camps from days gone by, but if you don't go for any other reason, the entrance and the lane lined with live oaks and hanging moss will be a good enough excuse.

This image was shot at night, as I was returning from a trip to Tybee Island.  I thought I might stop by and see if I could do any better than the early morning shot below.  However, the area is lit with some really nasty deep yellowish orange lights and it doesn't lend itself to a natural light exposure, in my view.   For a good photo, I suspect this place would be best visited during an overcast day, as the high, hot, Savanah sun, on a cloudless day, gives all kinds of contrast difficulties.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hang around and wait for one of those days.  Thank goodness for HDR and Photoshop.

If you are interested in tree tunnels, this is the best link I have found on the web with many photos.  I would also recommend visiting Charleston and Edisto, which are on my bucket list for the next trip down under, USA style.  There are also quite a few in Louisiana, from what I have seen during research and the Live Oak habituates almost the entire coast line from Virginia to Texas.