Original gelatin silver photograph, 11x14, signed by Ray McSavaney

Walking Trees, Autumn, El Capitan Meadow, 1985

“Walking Trees, Autumn, El Capitan Meadow, 1985,” is a composition of two branches that fell from an adjacent tree during a powerful storm. I had made several negatives of this subject prior to taking of this particular negative, and the subject naturally developed into a project that was to last for almost ten years before the branches finally broke and succumbed to the elements. Whenever I traveled to Yosemite, I would visit this location in the hopes of seeing Mother Nature’s new modifications to the scene – the importance of returning to the same location at different times of the day and year becoming a valuable artistic lesson that carried over into other projects. Most of the time, the changes were weather related, and often times there were physical barriers, but frequently mornings were the most productive with the possibility of mist, lending an otherworldly feeling that complimented the tree forms and isolated them. The time of day that this image was made was somewhat later than most of my negatives – closer to midday – but there was a very thin layer of striking cloud coverage and haze that softened the contrast and separated the primary subject from the background making it an opportunity to good to pass up. In the years since its genesis, I have never tried to make a final print of this image because the negative requires intense darkroom work that I could not accomplish on my previous condenser enlarger. Now, with the aid of a Saunders enlarger, I have succeeded in completing the extensive burning and dodging and changes in filtration required to obtain a balance between reality and fantasy that I had initially desired, and am excited to offer it here as part of this unique offer.