12/20/10 – Featured in THE COMPACT GROUP.
5/4/11 – Featured in the TOTALLY AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY Group.

TOP TEN WINNER in the Holidayzzz challenge, hosted by the Newfangled, Nonedited Photography group.

I found this mountain ash tree in Shaun’s neighborhood in Kalispell, Montana (USA), on the day after Thanksgiving. This is not done with selective coloring or editing of any kind. This was my favorite from the series of photos of this tree. The snow storm gave the world the look of black and white. The only color was the intense red of the berries.

Our sons used to call these “bird berries”. These mountain ash berries stay on the trees throughout winter and provide food for the birds who don’t travel south. Chris and I watched a bunch of tiny birds feeding on them on the day after Thanksgiving. They seemed joyful at the 50 degree rise in temperature. I was afraid to go in and get my camera because the door was next to the tree. We watched them for about 20 minutes before they all flew off.

Photo taken in Kalispell, Montana, on November 25, 2010 with a Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS camera.

A different shot of this tree, used for a Christmas card: