I snagged this shot in a recently scorched portion of the Lost Pines region of Bastrop County near my home. This area is subject to both sudden wildfires and planned burns intended to keep wildfires at bay. This one looks a bit like a drought-and-wind-induced fire from this past summer--hence the skeletal, relatively young charred trees amidst tall, dry grasses. I find it interesting how so many of the trees seem to be leaning in unison toward the right side of the frame. I think this probably means the fire spread from that direction, in line with the prevailing winds.
With this image, I'm going for something vaguely melancholy without feeling outright depressing. Besides the literal ecological loss involved, I wanted to evoke a sense of middle-of-nowhere-ness and meditative stillness tinged with a bit of bittersweet emotion. The Latin "errans," if I understand it correctly, is a nuanced synonym for "lost" that conveys the idea of "wandering." Hopefully it's enough to communicate a kind of real but ultimately impermanent loss. The trees in this image will eventually recover, or else the pine cones they dropped during the fire will produce saplings to take their place.
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