And with this image, I am embarking on yet another series of images I made earlier this year in the Hoh rainforest. It was actually during a workshop, but after everyone else had retired north to Forks for a few hours of rest and recuperation. I hung out alone in verdant forest with my cameras and my dreams.

I had made a similar series of images in this same place the year (or maybe it was two) before, that time with my Holga. My Holga had just experienced some major modifications via me, and had unknown focusing issues at the time. The images were approaching what I had imagined them to be, but ended up slightly out of focus. I kept them small, edited them and posted them. But several of my waking hours since were spent thinking about the next time I could wander amongst this particular forest and revisit this particular photographic fairy tale.

And then I bought a Hasselblad after several several several months of borrowing them. And I knew, perhaps we both did, that the next trip to the Hoh was going to be a re-working of these portraits as done with that fine Swedish camera. No offense to my plastic Holga intended, it knows well enough my fondness for it.

To wander tangentially for a moment, I had a student ask me what made a portrait. We had a discussion during which we surmised that portraits were images of someone or something that told you something specific about that individual, that presented him, her, hu or it as a unique subject. This in contrast to say a still life, which is an arrangement of objects (or people) but does not concentrate on individual, or rather unique, details. In that sense, I believe you can make portraits of anything, animate or not.

And so, I give you this new old series of portraits made in the Hoh, or perhaps of the Hoh. Nowhere else have I found such a remarkable collection of stumps.

Tags:   Hoh rain forest green square film Washington Olympic Peninsula Olympic National Park stumps trees dark woods Hasselblad 500C Hasselblad Pacific Northwest landscape dense One of the many faces of the forest Blue Moon Camera

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The Hoh is rife with characters like this. In truth, when one is alone with them, they are kind of intimidating, even a bit spooky.

Tags:   Blue Moon Camera

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I shall build a forest of these portraits.

Tags:   Hasselblad Hasselblad 500C Hoh rain forest Olympic Peninsula Olympic National Park Washington landscape square film green mossy verdant lush forest trees Pacific Northwest stump deadfall dark deep woods Blue Moon Camera

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I had a comment a couple of images back about how I knew that these were old "men". It's a good question. I don't know. Or maybe I should say that the use of the word men is not to associate a human gender to something that is not human, and is meant in a more generic fashion. I thought about titling this series as "old souls" instead of "men", but obviously I did not. Something about the sound and flow of the words. Even though I like the connotation of soul better than men, I like the way the latter reads better. I also thought about titling some of the images as old women and some as old men, but then I did not want to draw too much attention (or distract too much attention) toward the pursuit of trying to see the distinctions between one group and another by my audience.

Titling is a tricky business.

Of course, I could also fall back to no title at all, but chose not to do that either. It is usually my last resort. A title well chose can add so much to an image, it can set a mood and secure a certain frame of mind in your audience. Along those lines I even thought of titling all these images after various Greek and Roman mythologies, but tossed that out as too heavy-handed and ultimately not in the direction I wanted to go.

The current title works well enough, but is a work in progress. I myself am still feeling out just how to express what I mean about this series. Part of me is still trying to figure out just what the series means to me. On some instinctual level I know what it is, but the more rational and logical parts of my brain are struggling to grasp what those more reactionary parts are feeling.

If that makes sense.

Of course, you are also free to just look at the incredibly lush, dense and verdant forest scenes.

Tags:   Hasselblad Hasselblad 500C green forest trees square film Washington Pacific Northwest Olympic Peninsula Olympic National Park lush verdant mossy leftovers Blue Moon Camera

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I don't have the presence of mind to write too much this evening. It has been a full day and is only the beginning of what will be a full week, so I am going to conserve some of my energy and go read a bit before bed. But that's ok, 'cause I am totally enjoying a good book (Hyperion by Dan Simmons in case you were curious).

Tomorrow though hopefully I will have the time to say a bit more, because I would like to as this series continues. Particularly, I have a few things to mention about my processing of these images. Nothing too startling or ground-breaking, but insightful I hope.

Til then.

Tags:   Hasselblad Hasselblad 500C Hoh rain forest green forest trees Washington Olympic Peninsula Olympic National Park Pacific Northwest sasquatch mossy lush verdant square film stumps life cycle gremlin Blue Moon Camera

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