outdoorswithcamera

an ongoing project I have not talked about

People I meet while I’m out on my photo-walks (combining some exercise with lots of visual fun) often ask me what I’m shooting.

If I tell them “snags,” they often give me a blank look.

I tell them Snags are dead trees still standing.

Snags are important in forest ecology. This photograph illustrates that very well. Snags are like great big apartment buildings for critters– especially insects and birds. Little birds like nuthatches peck out holes in snags as nests!

Click to enlarge the photo so you can see the “apartments.”

I am working on making snags my thing. Snags in the real world are niches for life, despite (actually because of) being dead. I want to make snag photos my photographic niche

• because they are so dramatic
• because they straddle the border between death and life
• and because developing this niche could help me reach my professional goals,
  • reaching and “snagging” a bigger audience

Eight photos– for sale here— come from early on in my love of the dramatic beauty of these trees that are dead but live on in helping other life!

I welcome your feedback on this project at jim.wilce@gmail.com.