What is it with us photographers and lone trees? When I was down in Oregon on Bryan Peterson’s workshop last fall, there was a beautiful oak tree in the middle of a field. We couldn’t contain our excitement as we lined up to shoot it with the sun behind. Fast forward to last month. This time I was lined up along a fence with five other photogs shooting an acacia tree on the savannah. A scene repeated many times throughout our ten days there!
Trees grow in community according to Freeman Patterson, so when you see a lone tree, you have to ponder why. When I asked our driver about this he told us that only the strongest trees survive, the rest are stripped by the animals and eventually die. The lone trees, whether dead or alive, reflect the cycle of life in Africa where seasonal droughts often last seven years but when the rains come, everything is renewed again.
Here’s my question to you today: you’re lined up with a bunch of other photographers shooting your nth lone tree. How do you shoot it? How do you differentiate your image from everyone else? What do you do to create a compelling image that can tell the story of lone trees? Ok that’s more than one question but you get the picture. Share your thoughts with us and I’ll come back tomorrow and update you with how I saw my safari mates approach this challenge. This is a shout out to the people on our trip who have a blog or who are on Flickr. Please feel free to leave a link in a comment below so we can see how you shot the lone tree. If anyone else has a lone tree image they’d like to share, please do!
Great question, Sabrina! My first thought is to say that I don’t mind getting the same type of photo as others. I still feel like it is my own because I took it – and you know how it goes. A bunch of people can take very similar shots of the same subject but each may come out looking different, whether through post-processing or just how they approached it in the first place.
But to specifically answer your question, I might use a Lensbaby – one of my most neglected lenses. (It needs more love!) I would also think of going for some macro shots (leaves, bark, branches), but I realize in that case you wouldn’t be able to see a lone tree anymore – it could be a macro shot of any tree.
So basically, I look forward to seeing what you and others have to say!
Funny, I was just going to put a lone tree image on Facebook. I guess I better write a post!
[...] Categories: Uncategorized Tags: cloud, Kenya, storm, tree One of my safari mates – Sabrina Henry – suggested a “lone tree challenge in her blog. We certainly saw a lot of lone trees [...]
I’ve been looking for a lone tree In a field to catch frost on it this winter. I don’t have that shot yet. So one thing you can do is isolate. Just out of frame here are houses.
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/v3ggi32u/2348032881/in/set-72157604178127450/
I can see the image when logged out. Here is a non mobile URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/v3ggi32u/2348032881
Best I can do from my phone
My response to the challenge: http://dalbecphoto.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/lone-trees
[...] was inspired by Sabrina Henry’s latest blog post to pull out a picture of a lone tree. This one, from our trip to Scotland last summer, came to mind [...]
Thanks for posting that question and great shot. Really plays to the vast expanse behind the tree. You spurred my into getting my archived photograph from last year up: http://aegallerie.com/2010/02/11/the-lone-tree-of-glenshea/ I put some reasoning behind the shot in the post too.
What a fun post…..Took this photo years ago after climbing Kilimanjaro.
I think it’s all about POV and treatment. Change it up….get out…get dirty…go wide…go tight…saturate the colors, do a cool b&w….just have fun with it and forget about what everyone else is doing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/batdorffphotography/4362917454/
That’s one lovely lone tree, John. Thanks for sharing!