In 2006, the town of Oakville came up with a plan to expand Bronte Road just north of the QEW. Part of this expansion included ripping down an old White Oak tree. In one article I read, this tree dates back to 1750. It is an impressive tree, and there really was no good reason that the town couldn't split Bronte and go around the tree. If Oakville were to destroy a perfectly good, magestic OAK tree, it would be like tearing out a part of it's own heritage.
Thanks to people like Meagan McLellan, Sarah Harmer, Joyce Burnell and many many others, the required money was raised to allow this tree to stay. It now has heritage status, meaning that no one can tear this tree down while it is still healthy. It is a testament to what residents can do when they band together. Being in the presence of this tree in rush hour is a great display of nature vs machine.
I have always wanted to shoot this tree. Today I took a stab at it. It's not the last one I will do, I have plans, but for now this is what I got. The plan was to shoot looking north or south to show the traffic going around the tree, but the sky was not cooperating. There was one spot that was pretty cool, so I lined the tree up in front of that spot and snapped away. I am encouraged by this shot, and will use it as a basis for future shots.
Nikon 24-70mm at 42mm. ISO400. 13 sec shutter at f/10. Cropped to get rid of some traffic lights and to go branch to branch on the tree. I had to drop into B&W as there were streaks of taillights in the shot. I couldn't get a shot without cars and with the cool sky. The clouds were moving fast and it was getting really really dark. I should have done this earlier.
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