Part 107 UAS pilot reported flying their UAS and losing visual line of sight which resulted in crashing into a tree.

Narrative

This is my 2nd year as a UAS part 107 remote pilot. I crashed my DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone into a ponderosa pine tree. It was high noon and parked my work truck in the shade. There were several ponderosa pine trees on the north side of the site. I was collecting video and pictures for a new water well & tank site for ZZZ. The site is in its early stages of rebar being placed down for the foundation. When I took off on the northwest side of the site; I hovered at 50 feet and began taking video footage of the site. I then proceeded to climb in elevation to 90 feet and maneuvered to the northeast only keeping my eyes on the controls. The sun was directly above me and [it] became very difficult to keep a good eye on the drone. Not practicing visual line of site on the drone; I unfortunately crashed into a very large and tall ponderosa pine tree. The drone fell into the thick of the tree branches at about 60 feet and the battery fell to the ground. Our Parks Department came to the rescue and was fortunate to receive the drone back with some minor damage. Fortunately; no one was hurt and there was no damage to the surrounding property. After picking up the fallen battery and trying to find the drone; I called my supervisor and received some help from the on site foreman and his crew. A major lesson to be learned is to ALWAYS keep your eyes on the drone. I put myself at a disadvantage by starting so close to the site and with the sun directly above I couldn't see well. This was just a bad strategy on my part. The previous week I flew the drone from afar and should have done that instead.