While out photographing the other day, the phrase “can’t see the forest through the trees” popped into my head, strangely enough, while in the forest, looking at trees. This phrase that chastises those who cannot see the bigger picture seems to play such a large part in so much of our society today, especially in the realm of American political discourse. I have absolutely no desire to turn this post into some type of political commentary (and perhaps I have already opened that can of worms in these past 2 sentences.) However, I do wonder about the psychological gradient of forest people to tree people.
Clearly in many things, details matter. It is obvious that details play a significant role in understanding our impacts on the environment. The key is matching those details to their larger connections, which as a society we often fail at. How many times do we have to discover issues like we have with plastic microbeads, sunscreens, and pesticides? Are all of these things impacts of too many tree people? Or, could it be forest people not doing enough detailed research recognizing consequences?
While I am perhaps taking some artistic liberty with the phrase that targets those that never move beyond the details, clearly there is a balance. So, interestingly enough, I was thinking about photographs that could portray this contrast. Here I was, in the middle of the woods, surrounded by amazing details down to the very leaves beneath my feet. Equally, I am always awestruck by the size of some of the trees we have. Huge Eastern Cottonwoods, American Beech, and Sycamore trees that have survived the steady march of urban sprawl. Then, of course, these trees are part of the larger ecosystem they inhabit, and so forth.
Forest Through the Trees
What I came up with is this starter image below. It is an in-camera double exposure of the bark of a large Cottonwood, with the surrounding woodland. While playing around, I had noticed that including more of the skyward tree canopy with its brighter tonal range tended to “over write” the previous darker details of the bark. So clearly this is playing with the subject of this phrase. I know I could do this with a lot more control and precision in Photoshop, but I wanted the experience of doing it in the field, in camera, while these thoughts were floating in my head. Will it turn into a project? Maybe. Time will tell as I refine my technique on forest vs. the tree. Which attracts your attention first? Could that be a reflection of your forest vs. tree tendencies? 🙂
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Cottonwood Abstract, North Clinton River Park, Sterling Heights, MI
Like Suzanne I see shadows on bark though I won’t even bother to try and describe it better than she did 🙂
In any case I like what you are trying to do here. I’ll be interested to see where this takes you.
With the leaves filling out pretty soon here, I am not sure it will work as well. I will have to give it a try.
I see the intricate lace of protective bark while the light from above casts soft shadows reminiscent of clean window panes giving way to what lays beyond. Lovely
Very nicely stated Susanne.
Excellent post, Mark. It’s difficult to form an accurate big picture these days when bombarded by so many details, especially when a portion of these details come from those who have elevated mis-information and lying to an art form. It seems lies are not only acceptable by many but are preferred to science, facts and the truth. However, I don’t see there is any question about our destructive action in regard to the environment and climate change but I know many still say they don’t believe it…I suspect most of these deniers do believe but have sold out for other considerations. My opinion: We must first save the tree if there is any hope for the forest.
Your forest through the tree double exposure photo is very well done and creative. The first thing I saw was the forest followed a nano-second later by the cottonwood bark of the tree. Being very familiar with cottonwood tree bark characteristics probably help me in that regard. Again, great post…I enjoyed the read!
Couldn’t agree more with what you have stated here Earl. It gets to a point where you only trust a few sources of that, and therein is even a problem. There are those that follow a similar philosophy but those sources are known to produce propaganda garbage. I really don’t know how it gets rectified to be honest.
Thanks for your kind words on the photo. More to come I think.