Lights, shadows and the beauty of a May evening

I took this picture last Sunday, when we were coming back from a weekend away. There was this tree (don't know which species), the sun lights were going through the leaves and branches and crows were crowing and flying around. My wife and I found it very picturesque and we decided to take a few snapshots.

As I mentioned before, I love the mix of lights and shadows and this tree was giving us a perfect blend of it. Beauty has sometimes an almost brutal way to show itself. We have passed this tree often before, on many occasions, yet we never noticed it. We needed the right circumstances.

I wish the crows could have been visible on the picture. I used to dislike them as a kid, now for some reason I grew fond of them. There is something soberly elegant about them, even their crowing.