Arboreal Portraiture

I’ve been thinking about shooting more than I’ve been shooting lately, and that’s a lot less interesting to write about, so I took a bit of a break from posting. I realized I needed to get out of head today though so I fell back on the old reliable; black and whites of golden hour trees.

At this point, I could probably put together a portfolio entirely of black and white trees. I think growing up in the Great Plains then moving out east to the Land of the Pines instilled a bit of an obsession with old growth trees. In Oklahoma the oldest trees were most frequently the solitary oaks in the middle of a pasture, so moving to North Carolina where you’re surrounded by 3 or 4 story pines and cedars was a complete change. The most surprising part was the “tree protection areas” around new construction to keep the old growth instead of clear cutting then tossing in a couple tiny monoculture trees. Davidson was especially great about keeping old trees standing in town, so much so that I was worried I’d be spoiled by it when we moved up north.

Luckily Vassar is filled with century-old trees across campus, and it’s a bit of a panacea when I’m feeling a little blocked photographically. Arboreal portraiture may not be the most original thing, but it’s one more creative restriction that forces me to stop overthinking things. Setting out for a walk in monochrome and focused on light on trees normally gets me to stop overthinking every frame, which inevitably gets me just shooting more in general.

If you’re looking for something else to read, I wrote up a 5 Frames post over at Emulsive that went up this weekend. It’s 5 Frames from the first roll through the Mamiya from around Thanksgiving last year, and it made me remember why I love Portra 400 as much as I do.