Layered Trees and Exposed Identities
Discovering Nature's Hidden Structures in the Pacific Northwest
In the spring and summer I watched my plants flower, but it was, perhaps, in winter that I loved them best, when their skeletons were exposed. Then I felt they had more to say to me, were not simply dressing themselves for the crowds. Stripped of their leaves, their identities showed forth stark, essential.
Pamela Erens
In my corner of the Pacific Northwest, you can always find something green and growing. I love our leafy canopies, fern-covered forests, and plentiful mosses, but I also find myself drawn to graphic views of the often hidden structure of trees. Their strength and repetition capture my attention every single time.
Forests like these display subtle seasonal variations, but their essential identities remain unchanged. On a quiet hike, I like to think I see the same path as someone walking in the past century.
Bare and enduring, twisted roots tell a silent story of survival and growth. The essence of a tree’s foundation and the timeless beauty of its most elemental form.
And, while our 21st-century forests can’t match the old-growth size of the beautiful trees that stood before logging cleared the area, they serve to remind us of nature’s tenacity and remarkable capacity for renewal.
the telling about the photos make them more beautiful!
Great black and white photos Lisa.
Dad