DRAW ME A TREE
PHO TOGR APHS B Y DAN SHEPHERD
YOU KNOW THE ONE: that tree you first climbed and got stuck in as a kid, the one that you see every morn- ing as you drink your co=ee, the one whose leaves al- ways fill your gutters, or even the favorite sought out
by your dog on evening walks. Not just any tree. For this project,
I ask people to tell me about a tree that holds some importance to
them. These really end up being stories about the people, stories
of loss and love and a lot in between. After I hear someone’s story,
we work out a time to visit the tree together, and I give them a
little pad of paper and ask them to draw the tree. Everyone says
they can’t draw, but they do. While they are drawing, they share
more of their tree story, and I tell them about their tree’s natural
history. When they’re finished, I set up the camera and shoot
a double exposure, one with their hands holding their drawing
kind of lined up with the outline of the tree, and then a second
exposure without the drawing. The whole thing usually takes
about twenty-five minutes. I started the project with two dozen
tree stories from residents of Los Angeles and plan to expand it
to other cities across America.
