Schoolhouse Ridge is in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. A Civil War battle was fought here. But my interest has more to do with forest regeneration and the photographic opportunities this presents. The tree in the foreground is a young eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginianna. The common name is a bit misleading since it is not a cedar, but a juniper. Nonetheless, it is the wood cedar chests are lined with and pencils were made from once.

Not many large red cedars are in this part of the country now because of a concerted effort to wipe them out, I believe shortly after the Civil War. The red cedar is a necessary alternate host for the apple cedar rust and this area has been orchard country for a long time.

This image is another in a series made with lenses at their maximum aperture, in this case ƒ2. I am intrigued by the softer presentation so created. It is a nice alternative to the crisp hyper-realism I have been caught up with since I started photographing in the 60’s. Now in the digital era it can be too much, too dry, leaving not much room for the imagination.

50mm Zeiss Makro-Planar ZF.2, Nikon 800e, Lr4, Ps CS6.