When i was 15 years old, a tornado ripped through my hometown of Gainesville, Florida. It just missed our house but still dropped some 100 foot pine trees on us. The largest tree ripped apart the house at a point right where i had been standing a moment earlier. As soon as i got my bearings i picked up my camera and walked into our yard, still in the rain, and began to take photos. As well as galvanizing my new photographic interests, it kicked off a love/hate relationship with living in the woods.
6:30am, Gainesville, Florida, May 8, 1979
I look at trees—I like their fractal shapes, their parallels to other organic structures at different scales, their role as a transmission agent for moving elements between the air and earth. But mostly I am enthused by their varied beautiful shapes and relationship to light. Here is this work-in-progress:
