When I first moved to the foothills of Sierra Nevada Range, in Northern California, a local artisan, a builder of chairs and tables, beautiful objects made from the trees of the region, asked me to contribute work to an exhibition centered on products of the local forest. Very specifically, he asked me to provide photographs of the tree types of the Sierra Nevada Range, from the oaks of the lower foothills to aspens at the higher elevations. And I remember, almost saying no. What he wanted sounded scientific and initially, spoke little of the emotion I felt for trees. Soon after beginning that project I came to understand that photographing trees in rich abundance taught me about light and the diversity of form, shape, and line. From then on, I became fully engaged in a deep attraction to trees.

Under Trees continues my desire to photograph trees using color film rendered through inexpensive toy cameras. Here I wished to engage the splendor of color at an immediate and intimate level. The vantage points I selected were designed to reveal the interplay of light, form, and line, and the rich gradations of color.