ONLINE HED:
Old Oak in Woodbury
Tom Ziegler finally gets his dream photo of a landmark tree.
by Debbie Musser
Tom Ziegler, who retired from radio and TV broadcasting with nearly 31 years behind the scenes of WCCO-TV, strolls past this old oak tree almost every day, near the Windom Ponds neighborhood bordering Windwood Passage Park. “The picture came about because, for once in my life, I actually pre-planned this shot,” Ziegler says. “I always thought the tree would make a great photo . . . it just screams ‘character,’ and one can only imagine the cows and other animals that sheltered under its shade for decades, when this land was wetlands and pasture.”
One pre-dawn fall morning, Ziegler woke up with the bright light of an almost full moon streaming through his bedroom window. “I immediately thought of that oak tree; I bundled up and grabbed the tripod,” he says. “The sun was just hitting the horizon behind me . . . that big old moon seemed even brighter, and the sunrise added a bit of color to the tree.”
Ziegler enjoys taking scenery and landscape photos, as well as photos of his four grandchildren. “I still go by the old film maxim of, ‘If you have a 36-exposure roll, you shoot the whole roll,’ with hopes you’ll get one decent shot out of the bunch,” he says. “Same thing applies today.”
Tom Ziegler, who retired from radio and TV broadcasting with nearly 31 years behind the scenes of WCCO-TV, strolls past this old oak tree almost every day, near the Windom Ponds neighborhood bordering Windwood Passage Park.
“The picture came about because, for once in my life, I actually pre-planned this shot,” Ziegler says. “I always thought the tree would make a great photo . . . it just screams ‘character,’ and one can only imagine the cows and other animals that sheltered under its shade for decades, when this land was wetlands and pasture.”
One pre-dawn fall morning, Ziegler woke up with the bright light of an almost full moon streaming through his bedroom window.
“I immediately thought of that oak tree; I bundled up and grabbed the tripod,” he says. “The sun was just hitting the horizon behind me . . . that big old moon seemed even brighter, and the sunrise added a bit of color to the tree.”
Ziegler enjoys taking scenery and landscape photos, as well as photos of his four grandchildren.
“I still go by the old film maxim of, ‘If you have a 36-exposure roll, you shoot the whole roll,’ with hopes you’ll get one decent shot out of the bunch,” he says. “Same thing applies today.”
