'Cuz trees are terrrrrific

Sure, so maybe I thought that 'trees are terrrrrific' was a fun blast from the past.  It was also ironic that there are three of them.  Thankfully the title wasn't "t(h)rees are terrific."  Heaven knows I enjoy using excess punctuation.  Anyway, I like trees; okay, I love trees.  A regular ol' tree-hugger, even.  This week, I'd love if we were all able to take a little bit of time to reflect on our friends, the trees and at least a few of their visual and symbolic referents.

Joel Sternfeld

Central Park, north of the Obelisk, behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 1993

C-Print, AP 3/3, Ed. 7

On this Site

Buchmann Galerie

Charlottenstr. 13/75
10969 Berlin
Germany
18 Sep - 07 Nov 2009

This is such a beautiful, encompassing tree and the warm (probably sunset) lighting does wonders for it.  The encompassing tree is juxtaposed by the reasoning of this photo locale.  "In this sobering collection, Joel Sternfeld looks at places where violence has stained the American Landscape. Arriving long after news photographers have gone, he presents us with the landscape that is left behind, the ordinary site that remains after the tragedy."  "I went to Central Park to find the place behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Jennifer Levin had been killed. It was bewildering to find a scene so beautiful... to see the same sunlight pour down indifferently on the earth."  I know, quite the juxtaposition, right?  The mixed feelings of the beauty integrated with the knowledge of the slain individuals are apparent in each of Sternfeld's photographs. 

Eve Sonneman

PINS PARASOL A CANNES, 2007

   

 Digitally printed color photograph on Japanese paper, Ed. of 10
20 x 30 in. 50.8 x 76.2 cm.

Nohra Haime Gallery
41 East 57th Street
NY 10022 New York
USA

07 Oct - 07 Nov 2009

Sonneman's diptychs are a bit on the lighter side, presenting sequence shots of leisure time.  She "explores the notion of the landscape as witness to the passage of time."  The silhouetted trees do a great job providing for the visual landscape and that relaxed leisure quality.

Michael Kenna

Flatiron Building, Study 2, New York City, USA, 2003

New York + New Works

Galerie Camera Obscura

268, boulevard Raspail
75014 Paris
France

14 Oct - 28 Nov 2009

Seeing as though I'm concurrently taking a History of Photography class, I smiled when I realized that this photograph didn't belong to Stieglitz or Steichen, but rather to Michael Kenna who is paying homage to some of the masters of photography.  Although they may sometimes be overlooked, the use of the tree(s) (branches) adds so much depth and character to the photograph.  It also provides an interesting juxtaposition with the concrete nature of the (city) building.  Trees really are terrific, aren't they?!