IN THE SHADOW OF THE TREE OF LIFE
Taken with exposures lasting several months these pinhole images represent portraits of Ash Trees effected by Ash Die back disease. The disease, dispersed by fungal spores, first came to widespread national attention in 2012 and although it had been been recorded many years earlier, very little was done to contain the disease and imports of infected rootstock continued. Present day estimates that 95% of our native Ash Trees will not survive.
During the exposure rain and windblown debris find their way into the simple camera leaving their own marks and sometimes washing away the light sensitive emulsion. While the sun leaves its traces through the seasons, the trees themselves may not even be visible in the image - they become ghosts disappearing into the background.
