This tree shows beautifully how it deals with Bonaire's ever-present wind: it makes most of its branches in the lee. I also really like the trunk. You can see that the tree has had a very hard time, deep cracks and fissures adorn this trunk.
Yet it also has something uncompromising about it: the place is actually only suitable for cacti, but this sturdy tree doesn't care about that. As if it is saying: "I am growing here, nobody is going to change that!" That's why I took the picture in black and white. It enhaces the contrast and structure of the trunk.
Accompanying the tree is the story of the donkeys. They roam freely everywhere, in the driest places. As if they like to make it as hard as possible for themselves! A few of these rascals were also walking around near this tree. They very kindly came walking towards our car, seemingly to greet us. Of course, that was a bit naive thinking. They came looking for food and since we were driving an old Jeep with no windows, they quickly became pushy. Then we quickly drove on, having captured this gnarly hero.
I came this close to not being involved in photography. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic, with the biggest parallax error you could wish for! So I always had pictures of people without heads. I used these cassettes with 12 or 24 photos, black and white (that.. Read more…