Document Type
Newsletter
Volume
11
Issue
3
Editor
Paul Rogers
Publisher
Western Aspen Alliance
Publication Date
8-2020
First Page
1
Last Page
5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Abstract
Photographing Populus tremuloides: A Visual Xylotheuque
Lance Oditt
I am standing on the edge of the Carbon River on the Northwest edge of Mount Rainier in May of 2017. Three months removed from my last treatment for lymphoma. I am preparing for a road trip to photograph notable trees of the western U.S.: Sequoia, Joshua, Bristlecone, Whitebark Pine, and the Pando Aspen Clone. Adjusting to my new body, new camera, and new lens, I focus on a grove of alder that have set up along the edge of the river to practice techniques I imagine will help me photograph the Pando. As I ready a shot, a wave of excitement washes over me; the medicine I took, taught the cells in my body to see in a new way. Now, my mind is catching up. I smile as the shutter clicks. The river seems to reply as it emits a deep sonorous thuuunnnk. Somewhere, below the milky torrent of the spring melt, the water has lifted a boulder. Anything seems possible again, including a life photographing aspen.
Recommended Citation
Western Aspen Alliance, "Tremblings, August 2020" (2020). Tremblings. Paper 45.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/tremblings/45