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| Emerging American beech (Fagus grandifolia) leaves, stretch free of their golden bud scales. |
Have you ever really seen a tree?
Everyone knows what a tree looks like. But have you ever really seen the delicate flowers of a red maple? The emerging leaves of a tulip poplar? When you look at a tree up close, a whole new world of form and beauty emerges, and you begin to appreciate trees in a whole new way. Through its delightful writing and dazzling photographs, Seeing Trees reveals the amazing lives of these familiar yet imperfectly understood denizens of our shared environment.
Maturing acorns of the sawtooth oak
On every page we see the miracle of seeds maturing, leaves unfurling, and flowers emerging. But moreover, this book teaches us what to look for when we slow down and take the time — what we can see in the scars of a leaf, the twig structure, and the pattern of the bark. With profiles of the most familiar and beloved species, including the American Beech, the Red Maple, the Southern Magnolia, and the Tulip Poplar, Seeing Trees opens our eyes to a tree's shy magnificence, and invites us to deepen our relationship with these earthly treasures.
About the photography
From Seeing Trees photographer Robert Llewellyn:
Way back when I made photographs on film, I had a studio full of five big, glowing light tables. When I changed to digital imaging, they became just five big, white tables. Now I'm working on projects to see things very closely, and I'm back to the light tables.
I've found that very close-up macro images take on a strange phenomenon when they're sharp throughout. The objects look like they really are as large as you print them — something we're not used to seeing in close-up images. To make all of my images sharp throughout, I used my light tables, as well as my engineering background.
My cameras are attached to motors that are controlled by computers so as to change the focal points in precise increments, sometimes as small as 1/100th of a millimeter. I make up to 50 exposures at different focal points for one object and then stitch them together in computer software. It's much like making a panorama, but moving closer to and further from the object, instead of from left to right.
On display
Robert Llewellyn's photographic work is on display now through October 16 at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
Flora Photographica: A Study in Contrast features the very large-format images of photographers Robert Llewellyn and Andrea Ottesen. This exhibit presents bold, crisp, and colorfully arresting images juxtaposed with elegant, deeply detailed, and gently provocative studies in plant form.
