Old Oak in Abita

grand old oak tree

This is an oak tree in Abita Springs, near one of our parishioner’s farms. I posted this on Instagram and Facebook.

I’ve driven past if before, but for whatever reason I just didn’t take note of it. And this time, it’s not that anything was really different; it’s in the middle of the day so the light was pretty direct. It was hot as blazes and I wasn’t really paying attention… Then, bam! I careened to a stop, backed up and snapped this from the auto (a very bad habit, don’t start. I was pulled over in Kansas for taking photos from my car, though the officer admitted there wasn’t anything wrong with it. “It’s just strange,” he said. So of course, I said.. “Well what’s strange about it?”

It’s true that most people get out of their cars to take photos, and I usually do. But a lot of photographers will do things like stand on their car hoods, and I don’t do that for any number of reasons. I’m tall and don’t need too, too heavy and my car doesn’t need that. Etc.

Thankfully we ended up having a good laugh and I drove on; but I didn’t take any more pictures from my car for quite awhile. That was in Greensburg, Kansas, by the way, two years after their devastating tornado, and it reminded me so much of Katrina reconstruction. And in fact it was after Katrina that the whole photo-snapping-from-the-car-window thing started, since you often could not get out of your car to take photos. I know, you’re tired of hearing about Katrina, and so am I, I’m just scarred. Deeply scarred.)

I’ve been looking for a good subject to photograph and experiment with wall art, like a blown up canvas print. I’ll keep you posted, still so much to learn – in art, in life, in faith.

The Rev. Kenneth Allen