I’m Unashamedly a Committed Tree-Hugger

Yes, I’m a self-confessed, unashamed tree-hugger; I just love them! There’s even a word for us- Dendrophile: a person who loves trees, with a fondness for forests and woodland scenery– a 'haunter' of woods. I like that!

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”

Herman Hesse

Offspring..

Even dead ones..! This is on top of the kloof behind Noordhoek.

Lone clump of bluegums

A friend’s glamorously green garden in Wilderness. Our indigenous “wild peach”, Kiggelaria africana in the foreground.. 

Olive grove & wheelbarrow..

“I’ve seen many a storm come and go, so what’s one more..”, said the stately tree..

Here be wind, often..

In nature, three is not a crowd, but more the norm.. (Odd numbers, that is).

Like sentinels, these cypress trees guard the entrance to this small town, Zoar, and added about 30 mins to my travel time, with me scrambling up hills to find a better vantage point.

Again, up close and personal!

All that’s left of this tree after a devastating fire that ripped through Noordhoek, and Chapman’s Peak..

A fire rifled down the valley, and this once-mighty tree took a hit and will no longer provide shade at this scenic picnic spot. Du Toit’s Kloof.

This shot of a copse of dead/dying milkwoods, required me to lie on my back and take a pano of about 5 shots, later stitched together.. A bit like an x-ray of my brain, with its ADHD-addled faulty wiring! Kommetjie.

Solitree ;) Hopefield.

Tree stump in the toemis, with a barely discernible sparrow using it as a lookout perch. St Helena Bay.

By the light of the silvery full moon. Lakeside.

So that is what fate awaits us, as they watch their relatives trucked off to the nearby lumber mill. Pine plantation, Garden Route.

Ivy-covered pine trees, Newlands.

Somewhere near Moorreesburg.

This tree once served proudly as a swing for young children. The property, in the middle of nowhere on the Weskus, is/was for sale by Rawson Estates..

Like an oasis, this is one of the most impressive clumps of palm trees I’ve ever seen. I think they’re one of our few indigenous palms, Phoenix reclinata.

Near Kirstenbosch Gardens

Having fun trying to recreate a pictorialistic feel. The pioneering Pictorialist photographers like Léonard Misonne and Alfred Stieglitz, who had such an influence on artists, (and vice-versa) are my heroes. 

The philosophy of pictorialism:

Pictorialism emphasised photography's artistic, evocative and interpretive qualities rather than its documentary ones.

The pictorialists think that the introspective data should be interpreted just as it seems—our mind manipulates representations that are pictorial in nature. The pictorialist view thus offers us a unified conception of our experiences and the representations that underlie them.

And again here, walking through a lovely wooded forest, sun filtering through the canopy. A “haunter” of the woods.. Near Stellenbosch.