What strikes me as most odd about this picture is that it’s supposed to look like this.  I didn’t take this photo after a storm surge or immense rains (and subsequent flooding), this is the way this location looks pretty much every day of every year.  This is normal.

These are, best as I can tell, mangrove trees.  The term ‘mangrove’ is something of a catch all for trees (and bushes) that grow in estuaries, so, by that definition they most certainly are.  There is no Photoshop here; these are just enormous trees growing up out of the water where the Chowan River and Albermarle Sound meet.

One common misperception I get a lot about this photo is that it’s all ice.  And, while it is categorically not true–it was 90+ when I shot this–I completely understand how people arrive at this conclusion.  What makes more sense?  That I took a picture of a snowy field with trees in the distance or that I took a picture of trees growing up out of the middle of a huge body of water?  Exactly.