David Paul Bayles

Quiet...Crashing Upright…Upheaval Community…Commodity Carbon Storage...Carbon Release Tree...Log Alive...Dead Decades...Minutes Falling Trees is a series of photographs of trees in the act of being felled. These images bear witness to events too easily forgotten. The tension between motion and stillness reflects paradoxical aspects of our relationship to trees as sentient beings and timber as a renewable resource. Working in a forest near Mount Shasta, California, the logger analyzed each marked tree, assessing its lean, the weight of the limbs and the wind conditions. He pointed to the spot where it would land. I chose the composition by walking around the tree attempting to visualize it falling. Motion is always a mystery, and that was especially true in this case. Because re-takes were not an option, selecting the shutter speed involved instinct and guess-work. Trees fall slowly at first, gaining momentum and speed before they suddenly and decisively come to rest. These photographs were made in one day, using a 4x5 view camera and twenty-four sheets of black and white film. The thirteen images in this series were scanned and digitally printed without manipulation of content.