Lodgepole pines in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Photos can evoke different emotions in different people. To me, this photo is quiet, cold, loneliness. Lodgepole pines compete in crowded forests for light, and the tallest tree survives. They also can't handle much water. These trees throught they had it all; the perfect space with plenty of light. But things began to change (the nearby springs), and fight as they might, these trees slowly drowned. As everything else around them moved on, they withered. Their fight made them stronger, as they soaked up a lot of silica, keeping them standing longer than they would have otherwise. Now, surrounded by a field of mineral flats and all alone, these trees can barely hope for the occasional visit from a songbird in the summer. This is just... loneliness.