Dean M. Chriss
Photography
Ghost Forest and Emerging Ferns, Dolly Sods Wilderness
(Click image to enlarge)
It was a cold, damp, and foggy morning in the Dolly Sods Wilderness. The
fog was sometimes so thick that it was impossible to see more than about ten
feet. Less dense fog would occasionally drift through slowly to
reveal more distant objects. On this unusual day the fog remained until well
past noon. It gave the forest a very eerie feeling. One could imagine that nearly
anything lay just beyond the most distant visible trees.
The lighter plants in the photograph foreground are newly sprouted fern
fronds. Black and white processing best conveyed the morning's mood and allowed me to use the light yellow-green
color of the ferns to accentuate them against the darker greens containing
less yellow in the other vegetation.