The best part about this picture is that all the greens are on the other side of the tree. This left you a nice spot to get the lighting on that side without the distractions on your side. A great tree with great detailed limbs. A great picture.
This is a real good photograph and I must say that this is one of the most satisfying works I've seen and I've seen works of great photographers, round the globe.
This is a beautiful tree. The back lighting is wonderful. Perhaps you could have ried adding flash to fill in the color of the tree trunk. Still a great photo.
Now this is how to do "old" in a nature shot! There have been a lot of so-so landscapes of questionable theme suitability in this challenge.. but this tree looks like a bent old man and is actually fairly well shot. Not a ten, but it should still make you proud.