Ancient Olive Tree Photo

Photographer’s Note

A very old Olive Tree, Pont du Gard, Provence, France

Scene
This old olive tree is on the grounds of the Pont du Gard park and very near where I captured yesterdays post. Besides the gnarly bark of the old tree what really caught my attention was the delicate red poppies growing in the shadow of the tree. As you can see the lighting conditions were very harsh so I tried to minimize the background as much as possible but left some in the image for reference.

Background
Olive Trees are an indigenous tree to the Mediterranean region believed to have begun in the Lebanon area of the Middle East. Quick research this morning has indicated that some trees in the Middle East and Cyprus are at least 1600 years old. I have no idea how old this tree is but I would like to think the Roman's planted it when they finished construction of the aqueduct. As an aside, olive trees and olive production can be found in California, in the Napa Valley and the Santa Barbara region. The olive is not a native plant but since the climate is so much like the Mediterranean it thrives.

pboehringer, stego, feather, scobert, cdmonson, christor has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Shana (3203) 2007-05-20 11:45

Bonsoir,

mangifique ce vieux tronc d'olivier avec toutes ces veine, on y voit aussi des coquelicots, superbes.

Excellente soirée, Shana

pboehringer (770) 2007-05-20 14:00

John you're very right. The light conditions are harsh and makes it quite difficult to achieve what you were aiming at. Probably waiting longer for the right light conditions would have paid off, but that isn't always feasible in such trips. The idea of getting the delicate and short living poppy agaisnt the trunk of this REALLY old olive tree is an excellent one. I like it a lot.

stego (22448) 2007-05-20 15:43

Hi John,
Simple, but lovely compo; and much valuable as a documentary also. You are right about the poppies, they really add something special with its touch of colour and sign of Spring.
The only thing that could be a bit better is sharpness - those textures ask for it.
I wouldn't be surprised if that tree really is from the Roman times. I don't know much about olive trees, but knowing a lot of them that are surely more than 80 years and still seem very young, with its trunks diameters not having much more than 30 cm, I'd say that many centuries are needed to grow such a large trunk.
Regards, José.

feather (50122) 2007-05-20 15:55

You have captured all the detail and character in this gnarled old tree and you're right the addition of the poppies add a lovely bright splash of colour to the muted tones of the tree. Well done
Kath

Clementi (45101) 2007-05-20 18:09

Ciao John ,
bellissimo albero antico , ben definita e ricca di colore ,
ottimo POV
Giorgio

cdmonson (2761) 2007-05-21 12:28

Beautiful shot John. I love your inclusion of the flowers to give the picture some extra color. If I may say, it seems like a tad too tight a crop. A matter of preference of course, but I've noticed that a lot recently with my photos, so I guess it's something I'm noticing in general! Beautiful subject and great note. Thanks for sharing.

Clark

carper (65598) 2007-05-21 12:57

very nice one John of this very old tree,
a marvelous tree, well composed shot, good details as the red flowers and all set in a very good frame, good photojob here.
gr.jaap

scobert (5333) 2007-05-21 16:26

Hi John,
I knew that olive trees take a long time to mature, but I didn't realize until I read your notes that they could survive this long. Amazing. The lighting is a bit harsh, but if we waited for the right lighting all of the time when we travel we wouldn't see very much (does our mutual friend Allen K. ever really see anything when he travels?). There has to be a reasonable compromise. You still have a very successful image and I like the people in the background. Good job!
Stan

plimrn (19694) 2007-06-16 23:16

Hi John,
Those ancient olive trees are really something. I kept trying to capture the light through the trees on Corfu. Your excellent framing of the poppies at the base of the massive trunk works much better than my efforts. HLJ, Pat