For the past ten years or so, my wife and I have spent every August paddling the remote rivers of Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Manitoba. These rivers run through the boreal forest. The boreal is unlike any other forest. The terrain is mostly rock and very little has the tenacity to grow there. Other than white birch, there are no deciduous trees. And, indeed, except in rare instances, the only conifers to be found are black spruce – no cedar, no white or red pine, no tamarack, only black spruce. That’s because only black spruce can survive in such challenging conditions, sometimes growing on what seems to be, bare rock. They don’t grow very big. Their lives are relatively short, mostly because of fire and wind (they literally get blown to the ground).
When we first began paddling the boreal, we found the terrain stark and forbidding. But slowly we began to experience its rare and mysterious beauty. I have, over the years, become fascinated by the black spruce. They feel like old souls, growing in strange shapes and often covered with moss so that they seem wizened and bearded. Their bodies twist and turn with the wind and the elements. Their silhouettes are distinctive, like some old wizard – bent but enduring. They are, if nothing else, expressive. On our most recent trip, last August, I decided to make one of my foci, photographing these remarkable trees. This is the first of what I hope will be a small series of, perhaps, ten or twenty photographs. I hope that will just be the beginning. I pray that I still have many years more to spend with these marvellous creatures and, hopefully, many more photographs to make of them. Your impressions, suggestions, thoughts or feelings are most appreciated.
It looks like a well choreographed dance with everyone playing their part. Your background on these trees was so well written I am now smitten with these trees myself. The gorgeous light coming from the right side is painting a beautiful red on the bark of these expressive trees and the soft glow from the clouds in the background give this a moody, expressive feeling. I REALLY like this shot a lot. The two taller trees with their tops leaning over or bowing down give the impression that they are tired and have endured a challenging and arduous life…or they are finished with their dance and are bowing to the crowd. Wonderful image Kerry!!!
That is some gorgeous light on the trees which accentuates the “motion” in the image as @David_Haynes pointed above. I also love the clouds in the BG. You pretty much get the best condition here. Three thoughts, Kerry:
-
I think I would like to see just a sliver more on the right so that branch does not touch the right edge of the frame?
-
Have you considered flipping this? As presented, the flow goes from right to left for me, and
flipping it restores the the left to right order for me. This is a very minor point for your consideration. Often in a series, tension or dissonant like this can be important. -
Finally, this is me being super nitpicky. When looking at the image large, I can see a little bit of noise on the trees. Have you tried running some noise reductions on the image?
I am so looking forward to seeing this series coming to completion!
Kerry, this is the best written, and most lyrical image introduction that I have ever read at NPN. And your passion for the boreal forest has led you to create an image that definitely has “Soul”. You read a lot about needing to have an emotional connection with nature to create more meaningful images. Well you couldn’t ask for a better example of how to do that, this image is clearly from your heart. While I think the image is excellent as presented and has a lot of emotional impact on me, my enjoyment of this image is taken up several notches by your narrative.
Your earlier tree / boreal forest images were good, but this one takes the series to an entirely different level. I hope you can eventually return to the boreal forest, I think there is a lot left to be said in your images of this place. True North indeed…
Beautiful stark trees and as Ed points out, the narrative furthers their emotional impact. Given the intro, I would also be curious to see what lies below the image, a documentary interest rather than artistic.
Even without your evocative narrative, your photo conveys the feeling of old souls. And what gorgeous light. My OCD notices that lower branch on the right without negative space around it, but that’s minor. Looking forward to more old souls.
Hi Kerry,
I love your story. It felt like I was reading a nat geo article.
My only feedback and I know that colour is personal is to cool the image a bit. The reddish cast on the image reduces the depth of the image a bit for me with the trees bleeding into the sky from a hue perspective. Reducing the cast creates more seperation.
I have posted a rework up top with the original.
@David_Haynes Thanks so much for your very lyrical response. If that is what you took away from this image then my job is done 
@Adhika_Lie Thanks, as always, for your insightful feedback. As to the first, I did take Bonnie’s suggestion and altered that branch slightly so it doesn’t go off the edge of the frame and that might conform to your suggestion even though I haven’t widened the shot. As to the second, I did not consider flipping it. However, once you mentioned it and your reasons for trying it, I gave it a go. I’m sure you’ve had the same experience but once I did the flip it looked backwards. But I gave it a few hours for my brain to get used to it and I think it really does work better to let the eye move as it naturally wants to - left to right. As to the third, I’m not sure what you’re seeing. On my monitor blown up to 100% I’m not seeing any noise on the trees. There is a touch of graininess in the clouds but I actually want that softness back there to help give this image a somewhat impressionistic look. In any case, I have posted a rework up top.
@Ed_McGuirk I can’t tell you how touched I am by your comments. Years ago I did quite a bit of writing, though less poetical and more academic. But more recently I have begun to write again in the context of my photographs and am finding it very rewarding. This past year I self-published a couple of books of photographs and wrote an essay for each of them. Writing, not to “explain” my photographs but to enhance and hopefully, deepen the experience of reading them feels like something I want to continue exploring and your support is very encouraging. As to the earlier tree images. You may be interested to know that they were not taken in what is properly known as the boreal forest. Although the “southern” forests (by Canadian standards) are beautiful and diverse, my heart belongs to the boreal.
@Bonnie_Lampley If you are queen of the OCDs, meet the king. I was reluctant to remove that branch but on your suggestion I was able to keep it but throw some negative space around it. I agree, a small thing, but I do believe it improves the image overall. See the rework up top.
@Nathan_Klein. I am so delighted that my story added to the experience. I do understand your suggestion to create more separation but, to be honest, my intention was rather the reverse. I wanted to flatten the image somewhat to give it a more impressionistic feel. In this regard I was influenced by one of my favourite landscape painters, Canada’s own Tom Thomson. Take a look: https://aci-iac.ca/art-books/tom-thomson/key-works/the-west-wind and https://aci-iac.ca/art-books/tom-thomson/key-works/the-jack-pine
@Harley_Goldman Your wish is my command. Here is one of the alternate takes done in portrait mode. You can begin to see that the boreal forest as you approach the ground, especially in this area along the river, becomes an almost impenetrable mass of scrub and tangle. It can be very difficult to move through it, especially with camera and tripod in hand
@Kerry_Gordon, the (very minor) rework looks great. I admire your ability to put a narrative to your photos. I’m not in the camp of “a photo shouldn’t ever need words”; sometimes it really deepens our appreciation, as in this case. And I do love the work of Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven!
After seeing the wider view of this scene, I’m even more impressed by this image. A lot of folks would have walked right past these trees. You did an outstanding job of distilling these trees down to their essence.
Love the repost, Kerry! This is such a great image and as for the noise I mentioned the other day, I am not sure what I was seeing either but I didn’t see it when I look at these again. Looking forward to more!
Just getting around to this…after I viewed your most recent young spruce image. Like both images shown here but think the second is the stronger for showing their environs. Sure looks like they are battling.