People In a Tree

CAN YOU FIND ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS IMAGE?

I dredged this up from my archives. I think I did it around 2000, but can't remember. This took a lot of time. This is a composite of 4 photographs, each one using the same female model in a white jumpsuit, but in a different position on the tree. Then I used Photoshop to paint in her white jumpsuit for each shot.

To see this same tree shot by other Photographers, check out these LINKS:
QT Luong
David Muench


This shoot was in the ANCIENT BRISTLECONE-PINE FOREST, in the Inyo National Forest, located between 10,000 and 11,000 feet in the White Mountains, east of the Sierra Nevada (California). These trees (Pinus longaeva) are the oldest known living trees on earth. Here in the White Mountains, the ancient trees have survived more than 40 centuries, exceeding the age of the oldest Giant Sequoia by 1,500 yrs.

The oldest one – Methuselah – has a confirmed age of 4,768 years. This dates to the time the Great Pyramid of Giza was completed in Egypt, at around 2600 BC, or 4609 years ago. This tree saw the beginning of the Bronze Age (1800 BC); Moses leading the Hebrews from Egypt (1300 BC); Greeks fought in the Trojan War (1194 BC); the city of Rome was founded (753 BC); Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment and founded Buddhism in India (528 BC); Jesus Christ was born (1 AD); Muhammad founded Islam (610); King William conquered England (1066); Christopher Columbus landed in America (1492); and the United States declared independence (1774).

Each Bristlecone pine, from young seedling to ancient relic, has an individual character. Young trees are densely clad with glistening needle-covered branches that sway like foxtails in the wind. With their bristled cones dripping pine scented resin on a warm afternoon, they exude all the freshness of youth. As centuries pass and the trees are battered by the elements, they become sculpted into astonishingly beautiful shapes and forms. These"old age" gnarled Bristlecones command complete attention, for there is a definite emotional impact upon meeting a 4,000 year-old tree.

The aged trees tenacity to maintain life is impressive. While most of its wood is dead, growth barely continues through a thin ribbon of bark. When all life finally ceases, the snags stand like elegant ghosts for a thousand years or more. They continue to be polished by wind driven ice and sand. The dense wood is slowly eroding away rather than decaying.

Thin clear air and crisp ultraviolet light drench the high altitude arid slopes where the Bristlecone Pine makes its home. At this high elevation, one has the impression of a lunar landscape. The trees manage to survive in the poorly nourished, alkaline soil with a minimum of moisture and a forty-five day growing season. In fact, the trees longevity is linked to these inhospitable conditions. The trees grow very slowly, adding as little as an inch in girth in a hundred years.

Those that grow the slowest produce dense, highly resinous wood that is resistant to rot and disease, are more likely to join the Fraternity of the 4,000 year old Ancients. Not all Bristlecones attain great age. Trees anchored to more moist slopes grow fat and tall, produce less dense wood, and succumb at an earlier age. Long life is then granted to trees that are able to cling to life under situations of severe duress.

For images of BRISTLECONE-PINE Trees, Check out these LINKS:
SmugMug
terragalleria
corbis
fotopedia 1
fotopedia 2