Trees
are willing subjects but don't be fooled—to create a compelling photograph, you
need to take time to get to know them.
Trees
are willing subjects—you don't have to worry about catching them in action or
getting them in the right mood. They won't get uncomfortable if you spend hours
studying them from every angle at all different times of the day. Does that
make them easy to photograph? "In my dreams!" laughs photographer Len
Jenshel.
Jenshel
and his partner Diane Cook have been photographing landscapes together for over
25 years, combining a fine art aesthetic with documentary storytelling. For
their most recent collaboration, "Wise Trees," they spent two years documenting trees
around the world and how they play a unique and important role in our human
history.
Here
are their tips on how to get the most out of the trees in your life.
Research,
research, research.
When
Cook and Jenshel started work on their "Wise Trees" project, the
question foremost in their minds was how to make a beautiful photo, but also
how best to convey the importance of each tree. "You want to tie into
seasonality, and cultural significance. You want to know about weather, when it
will be in bloom," Jenshel says.
For
the photograph of Isaac Newton's apple tree, they emailed back and forth with
experts to determine when the apples would be at their reddest before falling
off. They also use tools like Google Earth to find out what to expect from the
terrain and Photographer's Ephemeris to learn at what times of day a tree might
get sunlight. All before taking out the camera.
Followed
by patience, patience, patience.
"A
tree does not reveal its secrets in just two hours," Cook and Jenshel both
agree. "It takes walking around it at different times of day." For
their Wise Trees project, they spent about two days with each tree.
"Our
initial reaction to every tree is 'This is going to be a difficult one to
photograph' but it does, with time, reveal its secrets," Jenshel says.
Take
the famous cherry trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., which at
their peak are a sight to behold. Only, there are a zillion other people there.
"We
got up at 3am to get there an hour before the sun came up," they recall.
"It was wall to wall photographers with tripods who had already claimed
their spot. How are we going to navigate this craziness?"
They
decided which spot they wanted, waited for the moment for it to open up, and
waited some more until the tree was lit in the way they wanted. "Then you
just ignore the people complaining behind you," Jenshel jokes.
Photographing
a tree is like taking a portrait.
"You
want to know as much as you can about your subject," Cook says, whether
the subject is a person or a tree.
And,
like portraits, the view can be full-length, head and shoulders, a
detail—anything that conveys the essence of that person.
When
faced with the challenge of photographing the Montezuma cypress in Oaxaca,
Mexico, there was no way, even with their wide angle lens, they were going to
be able to get the entire thing in the frame. Plus going with a wide angle lens
means distortion around the edges.
So
they instead focused on the most remarkable aspect of the tree—its 38-foot
diameter.
"Often
a piece of a tree is fine," they say. "It's the same thing as taking
a portrait—someone has captivating eyes, so let’s focus on that."
There
is no bad weather. Only bad clothing.
It
was pouring rain the day the pair headed out to photograph the Child-Giving
Ginkgo tree in Tokyo, Japan, but the weather yielded unexpected, and beautiful,
results—soft, muted light with the bright yellow leaves scattered on the
ground.
"If
it had been a bright sunny day, the image would have too much contrast,"
Cook says. And, Jenshel adds playfully, "A great advantage of our
collaboration is that one can hold the umbrellas and keep the camera dry while
the other one shoots."
Don't
be a slave to the "golden hour."
One
of the most-often repeated rules of thumb when it comes to photography is to
avoid shooting in the middle of the day when the sun is overhead and the
shadows are harsh. Rather, go out in early or late light – around sunrise or
sunset to get the most even, golden light.
But
this doesn't mean you can’t get great results at other times of the day. In
fact, it can be a welcome challenge.
Cook
and Jenshel were scouting out the best places to photograph the bristlecone
pine trees growing in California's Inyo National Forest when they came across
this scene. Normally, lingering smoke from a nearby forest fire might be a
nuisance, but in this case, the enshrouding haze muted the bright 2 p.m. sun
and created a more textured atmosphere.
"Every
single picture we take is about light interpreting and bringing out the best in
the tree," Cook says, no matter what the position of the sun.
Build
in time to accommodate the unexpected.
Fog
in the forest, an unbelievable rainbow, a flock of birds flying overhead, a
group of schoolchildren on a class trip—all of these unexpected elements can
add a layer to a photograph to tell a fuller story.
"You
want to do it all when you’re there – night, morning, afternoon, up, down, shot
up, shot down from the church steeple," Jenshel says. "Diane and I
will look at the trees on our laptop after the first day of shooting and then
make some adjustments. It’s a great luxury of shooting digitally – to see your
results at the end of the day and be able to fine tune your images the
following day."
Be
open-minded. Be patient. Do your homework. Do your research. Then go crazy
being creative when you get to the tree.
Climate
change makes it difficult to predict the weather, so we try to be
flexible," Cook says.
They
had spent two days waiting to photograph the Wedding Oak in San Saba, Texas.
"We had rain for two solid days, zero light, and one night at dusk we were
just about to pull away and we looked in the rear view mirror and saw our
taillights illuminating the tree," they recall. "We turned to each
other and said 'Ah! Taillights!"
Plus,
they add "There’s something funny to us about the idea of a car being part
of the picture– thinking of lovers in a car parked under the tree."