Native Americans  called them ''standing people'', in myth, legend and literature trees  have watched over us.They have a mystical power and presence. They take in the carbon from the atmosphere and give us  oxygen. We cut down acre after acre, denuding our planet, destroying ecosystems to give us consumer products. They stand and watch. If you walk in the woods you can HEAR them. They do make sounds in various ways but one must be open to listening deeply for them.
I here am sharing  portraits of one of my favorite tree friends.She stands aside a water feature, engineered by humans from a river to create a fishing park. It is near the center of my city. i visit this place frequently. I have watched this tree weather 2 years if extreme weather, drought and flooding. It has been particularly harsh this past year and I fear for root damage. Trees go on looking alive for some time even while dying from such damage. She is beautiful,. I hope she is strong enough to tolerate what climate has been doing to her. I hope and pray for the trees and the humans as earth and climate go through extreme changes.

 December 2012

 

November 2013


In October 2013 I heard an interview with Mark Hirsch, photographer, author of ''That Tree''. He has an amazing life story. ''That Tree'' is his work involving ongoing portraiture of a particular tree and I suggest you seek and view his work and learn his story. I heard his interview and realized I had already been doing this, taking photos of  a particular tree ( I also repeatedly have taken photos of other places and things to mark the changes  occurring) This blog post is  just a single ''page'' of the sort of photographic diary/journal-ing of nature that I have