Live Burls by Kirk Crippens and Gretchen LeMaistre

“This the marvel of the play of forces,

K i r k C r i p p e ns & Gr e t c h e n L e M a i s t r e

that they so serve the things where through they flow:

Live Burls

growing in roots, to dwindle in the tree trunks, and in the crowns like resurrection show.�

Rainer Maria Rilke from Poems from the Book of Hours

“This the marvel of the play of forces,

K i r k C r i p p e ns & Gr e t c h e n L e M a i s t r e

that they so serve the things where through they flow:

Live Burls

growing in roots, to dwindle in the tree trunks, and in the crowns like resurrection show.�

Rainer Maria Rilke from Poems from the Book of Hours

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree.

The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe.

It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

As we trudged through old-growth redwood forests, under the weight of an 8x10 camera, tripod, and film holders, we imagined Carleton Watkins and Eadweard Muybridge, master photographers of the late nineteenth century. We had chosen to maintain continuity with our forebears by making our own photographs in traditional black-and-white format. The early masters captured the magnificence of these trees during the heyday of western expansion in the 1800s. Carleton Watkins’ pristine photographs became instrumental in preservation efforts to secure land for our National Park Service. Other photographers of the same era showcase proud

Eadweard Muybridge standing at the base of a 71-foot circumference California redwood tree.

Muybridge was most likely Carleton Watkins’ assistant before embarking on his own career.

Photograph by Carleton Watkins, approximately 1872, courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree.

The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe.

It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”

John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

As we trudged through old-growth redwood forests, under the weight of an 8x10 camera, tripod, and film holders, we imagined Carleton Watkins and Eadweard Muybridge, master photographers of the late nineteenth century. We had chosen to maintain continuity with our forebears by making our own photographs in traditional black-and-white format. The early masters captured the magnificence of these trees during the heyday of western expansion in the 1800s. Carleton Watkins’ pristine photographs became instrumental in preservation efforts to secure land for our National Park Service. Other photographers of the same era showcase proud

Eadweard Muybridge standing at the base of a 71-foot circumference California redwood tree.

Muybridge was most likely Carleton Watkins’ assistant before embarking on his own career.

Photograph by Carleton Watkins, approximately 1872, courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

The “Pioneer Cabin Tree” was hollowed by loggers to accommodate horses and cars.

As a curious throughway, it became a popular tourist attraction for well over a hundred years until a strong storm toppled the tree in 2017.

Unknown photographer, approximately 1864-1874. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Pioneer’s Cabin.”

The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

The “Pioneer Cabin Tree” was hollowed by loggers to accommodate horses and cars.

As a curious throughway, it became a popular tourist attraction for well over a hundred years until a strong storm toppled the tree in 2017.

Unknown photographer, approximately 1864-1874. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Pioneer’s Cabin.”

The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Lady Bird

Lady Bird

Swamp Lantern

Swamp Lantern

Semper Virens

Semper Virens

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage