Calm Photos

I have several 30″x40″ mounted prints that are displayed on easels here in my Centerville studio/gallery. I also frequently use these prints when doing presentations and workshops on nature and landscape photography. The prints are becoming a bit dated with a few scratches and dents, but these images are still a fine representation of my body of work when it comes to nature subjects.

With one print in particular - “The Three Sisters” - I am always amazed how just about everyone who sees this print will identify the subject without the slightest hesitation. “Oh wow - the three sisters in Sugarcreek.” This particular setting of three, 550+ year old Oak Trees is more recognizable than my prints of Ash Cave, Cedar Falls, and dare I say, my famous Dayton skyline. Seriously.

There is something about these grand remnants from the woodlands that at one time covered all of Ohio that has captured the imagination and memory of those who have visited and hiked the trails at Sugarcreek MetroPark, which is located a few miles southeast of the Wilmington Pike/I-675 interchange near Bellbrook. The Three Sisters are perhaps one of the best known “natural” landmarks of Dayton’s MetroPark system.

What I love about this image is that I’ve captured the Oak Trees in a morning mist during late autumn. In fact it was the first weekend of November back in 2003. This was prior to me going completely “digital” with my photography. I used Fuji Velvia in two cameras - a Canon 1V (35mm) and a Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II medium format (6×7). The best results came from the Mamiya medium format, which also included a Mamiya-Sekor 50mm lens. Because of the low light and the slow speed of the film (50 iso), I used a Bogen tripod with a Kirk ballhead and cable release. Also used was a Sekonic L-508 light meter. This was landscape photography in complete manual mode. I still have the Mamiya, and every once in a while I dust it off and haul it out to the field. Although I love my Canon 1D’s, there’s just something so rewarding about framing a shot through the big viewfinder of a medium format camera.

I love working in a landscape covered in mist or passing fog. There is a depth and feeling added to the composition that draws the viewer in. This photograph can also be considered a classic representation of Celtic spirituality. It has all of the elements - old growth forest, mist-shrouded branches, natural progression of the seasons, and the tree that the Celts consider to be most sacred, the stately yet haunting Oak.

Since the time that I photographed this scene I have been informed that one of the old Oaks was struck by lightening, burning the tree from the inside out. However, much of the outside structure remains. Naturalists from Five Rivers MetroParks have dated these trees to be over 550 years old. I try to imagine what life in the land we now know as Ohio was like at the time these three trees were mere saplings, and all that they have witnessed since.