I think many of us might agree with that sentiment, even though we each might have our own unique reasons why. And this may also be why we feel compelled to photograph trees, to help us hold on to our memories of them as long as we can.
One of the most impressive trees I've personally ever seen is growing in a cemetery just outside of Nashville, TN. That day, I was using the Leica R6, the 35 mm Summicron, and a roll of Kodak XX.
While it is a spectacular tree, I can't help thinking that it's a bit of a shame to only photograph the oldest, tallest, and most beautiful trees.
What about the trees in our own backyards?
In the previous century, I used to use a product from Polaroid called PolaChrome. As the name suggests, this was instant slide film, and it was pretty amazing stuff that allowed you to generate slides for projection in a matter of minutes. The process was a bit fiddly, and required one to use a special little hand cranked machine to develop the film. I came across my copy of this little device in a pile of junk a while back and decided to visit a famous online auction site to purchase a roll or two of PolaChrome 35.
The newest sample I could find expired in 1996 and was $30 for twelve exposures. What the hell. There is a cemetery behind our house where the city planted some long leaf pine seedlings a few years ago. These little trees have shot up to a height of 4 m already. The exposure above was made using the Leica R8 with its trustworthy light meter and the same 35 mm lens as the first image. As you can see, after almost a quarter of a century sitting on a shelf, the PolaChromes are far from perfect, but that is why they are so interesting. Some of the emulsion peeled off during processing, the chemistry stained parts of the final image, and the color has shifted a tad. And, worst of all, a couple of the rolls I bought were just dead from the get go because the chemistry had completely dried out. So, it's a crap shoot with this film.
I am not a huge fan of most pine trees. Around here, the loblollies are known for falling onto houses during heavy weather. I'm willing to make an exception for the long leaf pine which, as an aside, reminds me of a saguaro cactus in this image.
I'll definitely miss trees, even more than I miss PolaChrome.
