Old Sequoia at Sunset
California

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

In April of 1996, Ruth and I went on a one week spring photo trip, heading south to California, passing through Yosemite National Park and spent two days at Sequoia National Park. In those two days, I was able to photograph this image with my 8x10” camera and one more image with my Hasselblad medium format camera: Glowing Sequoia Trunks.

This image was taken as sunset, as we were preparing to put the camera equipment away for the day. As the sun was going down, for a few moments the grand majesty of the huge central trunk was surrounded and enveloped by its own foliage as well as that of the surrounding forest.

We had to work very quickly to setup the 8x10” camera and without Ruth’s help there’s no way I could have been able to make this photograph before the light faded away. As with the majority of my 8x10” photographs, there was only one exposure made onto color transparency film, so the composition, focusing, exposure determination and manual lens settings all had to be done precisely and very quickly.

The golden light in the center of the trunk, placed in the center of the image draws my eye and the surrounding darker tree foliage seems both drawn towards it and at the same time revolves around it, helped by the dramatic lighting and strong color contrast. To me, the image conveys feelings of strength, peace and wholeness.