I’ve Been Dreaming of a Tree… and Napa delivered!

The past few years I have been haunted by a tree. I’ve had a vision of a tree, silhouetted, at the top of a hill against an amazing, dramatic sky… Everywhere I go, I look for this shot. It’s driven me to drive up roads in Vermont, down Valley’s in the Southwest… and I’ve searched and searched.

I had the pleasure of shooting with Richard Small a photographer from Santa Rosa (who I met and shot with in Moab last year) again last week. While we were visiting a vineyard in Napa Valley, Richard mentioned some rolling hills… and a tree. I don’t think he finished his sentence before I was in my car, peeling up dust and heading down the road. Pulling off to the side of the road and walking the area a bit, I knew I had a magic moment. While it mihgt not be the tree shot of my dreams, it would surely stoke the fires… The vines ran directly toward the tree and the sky was changing rapidly as clouds came and went across a vivid deep blue sky.

I ended up shooting over a hundred images of this scene. Vertical, landscape, zoomed in, zoomed out. I walked tot he left, to the right, up the hill a bit, and across the street to stand on a bluff. I knew I had to capture this scene in a bunch of different ways. This is the first of many finishes, and I love it… It hasn’t satiated the “tree dream” but I can rest, and pause, and look at this one, knowing its a very special shot.

Enjoy!