After a week of illness and rest, and holiday parties, too, I finally decided it was time to take my camera and try to do something. I had brought it with me to my usual lunch shack at the beach once before, and at that time I took some still images of an interesting old tree lying almost horizontally on the beach. I had seen it many times and started to feel affectionate towards it, and marvelled at its strange dead looking trunk, which nevertheless supported the branches with green leaves.
 


 


Unfortunately I was not the only one that was fond of the tree. There were always kids climbing on it or people sitting in the two swings hanging from on branch or taking photos of each other against its trunk. At some point I planned to come and record it early in the morning, but finally decided that I should first look further afield.
 
So today I decided to bring not only my camera but my tripod, too, and continued along the beach, climbed over rocks at low tide, found more beach shacks, some big black rocks and more beach. I turned back after a while and decided to take a few images of the old and dry tree trunks lying on one narrow part of the beach. Just to get started, I guess.
 

 

 
I found a spot to place my camera on tripod in such a way that passers-by would not pass between me and the camera behind me, or so I thought. Of course there were people who did that too, eventually. Anyway, fascinated by the almost rock-like grey wood lying there, like the remains of a giant being, I sat for a while next to the old corpse, despite passers-by moving along and despite the sun burning my skin. Although the image looks a lot like many other images I’ve made, at least I have now started.
 


 
Today, the day after, I spent most of the day walking the nature path in the nearby National Park, carrying my camera and tripod, in vain. The environment was great and some of the views on the path were extraordinary, but there was nowhere I wanted to stop to sit for a while. In the afternoon, after returning, I decided to go and visit the tree I saw on the beach yesterday, and it proved easy to sit in. The tree was plagued by some insects, I guess, because most of its leaves were perforated, but otherwise it seemed strong.
 

 

 
I made two versions, because there were so many passers-by during the first one, and also, because I was not sure about the framing of the image. Nevertheless the first, shorter version might be the better one.
 

 

 
And finally, today, on the last day of 2016, in the afternoon, I made one last attempt by the big dead tree trunk at low tide: