And it Began with a Tree

As a photographer attachments grow for certain places, you find yourself revisiting them time and time again. It’s almost an obsession to capture the perfect shot under the right circumstances. Every time you visit the moment is different and the image you capture tells another, slightly different, story.

During the last year, and especially over the last few months, I have been photographing my local area regularly. There are buildings and locations that I have become attached to, wanting to photograph them through different times of day and even seasons. An image that represents that specific moment in time is what I aim to achieve as a photographer.

There is a story about the most photographed barn in America. I first read about the idea in Don DeLillo’s White Noise, though a fictional barn he depicts a place that has become a tourist haven. Its reputation has grown from nothing and for no reason, except the fear that people are missing out. A pursuit to capture the best photograph of a picturesque location just because others are.

This idea has become even more evident with the increased popularity of social media and the fact that everyone has a camera in their pocket. Iconic locations have become must visit destinations. Your proof, a photo. Scroll through Instagram and you will find the latest hotspots, the stairs from the latest Joker movie or over run lavender fields. Each vying for the opportunity to become the next most photographed barn in America.

I have always photographed for myself, creating and finding my own locations that have value to me. I wanted to take the idea of the most photographed barn in America and apply it to a place that was important to me locally. Instead of it becoming a must photographed location for others I wanted to begin to create a continuously growing gallery of images, each a comparison to the last.

And it began with a tree.