The Lone Tree

Somewhere I read the phrase "if there's a lone tree, you must photograph it."  

The lone tree can be an interesting subject, a living contrast to a stark environment.
Resilient. A survivor.  Bent, but not broken.  Resistant to forces of nature, meddling of man, the Ides of March and random acts of God...

I just finished reading Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire," a collection of reflections - mostly from the time he spent as a park ranger at Arches National Park in Utah - and musings on the park and "industrial tourism" and the desert, the benefits and shortcomings of isolation, the need to preserve and protect and spare the wild land from the interventions of man.  I'm still absorbing what I read and coming to terms with some of the more radical thoughts put forth, and part of that process is writing this post.  Abbey's book got me thinking about the harshness and beauty of the desert Southwest - which circled back to thoughts of the lone tree.

The last couple of months I've been drawn to the idea of simpler, starker, uncluttered compositions, and incorporating the subject of the lone tree into some of my recent work reflects this idea of aesthetic. 

Last April I spent a dreary, misty, foggy morning driving around the panhandle of Texas outside of Amarillo, taking in the landscape, the rolling hills and flat expanses of farmland.  At one point I saw this tree, bent from years of fighting the wind for a foothold on the open range...

This juniper was at Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab, Utah, ever reaching towards the dawn...

There was this cottonwood along the Colorado River outside of Moab, beginning to relinquish its summer green for the golden yellow of fall...

This bristlecone pine near the South Window in Arches National Park, its branches and form seemingly framing the arch behind it...

 "If there's a lone tree, you must photograph it."  I started photographing lone trees because I liked the look of an uncluttered composition.  Now I stop and photograph them because it gives me a moment to pause and reflect and take in the beauty that lies within a harsh environment or in unexpected places... 

All photos taken with a Nikon D7000 and Nikkor lens: 16-85 DX VR (first and third photos), 10-24 DX (second photo), and 10.5 DX Fisheye (last photo).

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