Tree Images
The exhibition theme for Contact 2006 at the Gladstone Hotel was 'Urban Optics'. With this in hand, I decided the focal point of the exhibit would be trees. Trees are a significant part of any urban environment as they provide critical elements to everyday life, including oxygen and a place to cool down on a hot summer's day. In Toronto, we are fortunate with the number of trees that exist within our city.
My next step was to determine the presentation. I started to explore and examine trees in their environment as well as taking sample shots. With this, I realized trees had their own character. To capture their character and to create interest in the photograph, I looked at the background, textures as well as shadows. The series was shot primarily in High Park from mid-January 2006 to the end of March 2006.
For interest, if you look at the first two thumbnail images, they are the same tree. It took me a month and half to take the first image and the second image was taken about 30 minutes later. The first image was looking west and I was waiting for the sky to be just right. Then I walked to the other side of the tree and looked east and that was the view I saw.
