The Memory of Trees

The Memory of Trees #1

I have been taking pictures of trees lately. Most of these in this blog you have probably seen in my weekly 365 Days of Photography posts. These four I selected to have printed so I could enter them in the Ralph Solano Annual Exhibit at the Old Pass Gallery. They represent a departure for me because I am not the black and white photographer in the family. I am all about color.

The Memory of Trees #4

 And I have never before named a group of paintings or photographs with numbers. And it is possible I have the numbers in the series wrong. I submitted them to the show yesterday and was sure I kept a copy of the entry form but alas no.

There is supposedly a set of rules on photographing trees. Well, more like guidelines than rules. My current favorite guideline is never include the top and the bottom of a tree in a photograph. I was usually trying to frame both so this made life easier. I found myself liking the results so you will notice none of these pictures show both. #1 is the only photograph of the top of trees. I find I really like the bottoms best.

The Memory of Trees #2

Guideline number two about photographing trees is you don't need the ground. It is the least interesting part of the photograph. Only #1 follows that rule. I would argue the shadows of trees across snow are very interesting.

So why not crop the bottom of #2? It is just snow without shadows of trees. Believe me I toyed with that. But the white space accents the texture of the trees. So basically I have rejected that guideline. Especially in #3 which is almost half ground (snow) but it is still a photograph of trees.

The Memory of Trees #3

I debated printing #3 because I had tracked up the newly fallen snow before looking behind me. The sense of morning light through the forest begged to be recorded. I would argue that any photograph of trees is really a photograph of the interplay between light and trees. And black and white post processing shows that off the best. After all we know they are green.