Golden Forest
Vermont

24×20″ prints are $1,500
40×30″ prints are $3,000

In 2006 Ruth and I went on a one month photo trip in our camper van from coast to coast, driving a total of 9,500 miles. We spent part of one day, October 10, 2006, looking for photographs in the Green Mountains of Vermont. It was slim, very slim pickings. Most of the leaves had fallen in an earlier windstorm. However, the day was overcast with very little wind so there was still the possibility that an image was possible.

We drove for hours with hardly a stop, consulting our maps and DeLorme state atlases. Still nothing until the late afternoon when we came to a small off season ski resort. There was a small, narrow, steep sided canyon full of tall trees that had been protected from the wind storm. Oh boy.

I took one photo of some trees with my 450mm lens and then saw this composition. Ruth helped me focus this image and then an old gentleman came walking up to see what we were doing. Ruth dusted off the film holder for me and then went to meet and chat with the nice man while I continued undisturbed. I took two identical exposures with my 600mm Fujinon C lens at f/45-1/2 for six seconds on Velvia 50 film.

The Cibachrome prints require a very precise overall color balance to insure the maximum tonal separation of the many muted colors and tones. This is an image that for me the total effect is much more than the sum of the parts. When I compose an image I do it completely intuitively, but usually after the fact I can describe what makes it work for me. This image has a quiet grandeur and is full of light and life. It reminds me of the classical illustrations in the old fashioned fairy tale books I like to read. Like the closed entrance to an enchanted forest which opens to those of kind hearts.