Details of the Appalachian Trail – Rocks and Roots.

The ability for roots of trees to take hold in rock crevices has always amazed me. This particular pair of trees did so with tremendous style, creating a nearly abstract artwork within the rock cliff. The colors of the tree roots is almost the same as the rock wall so I had to work a bit more than usual with film choice, developing, and even printing.

I captured the image with a 65mm lens fairly close to the rock wall to enhance the depth of the roots. The small plants at the bottom were as important as the rest of the composition while the sky above is intentionally blown out. The textures of moss and the dark crevices have a depth on the print not really evident on the screen. My scan of the print is picking up the warm tone of the paper which might lead me to toning this image at a future printing.

Technical: 4×5 Chamonix 04N2,  Delta 100, Pyrocat HD N+, Ilford MGFB WarmTone in LPD 1:3.