CraigBILL

The Giant Coastal Redwood Trees have been one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. You would expect that with all their size and glory it would be easy to get pictures of these colossal organisms. On the contrary, I am not the first photographer to complain about these mysterious and elusive photogenic characteristics. Snap a picture and... their amazing attributes are reduced to nothing more than a picture of the woods. You must be cunning and creative to hunt down the images that reveal the feel of weight, height and age - as when you stood next to them. What helped me this time around was the rain and mist that these trees have an inseparable relationship with. Without this mist, the coastal sequoias will not live. This was the first time that I was able to photograph this environment entirely before that rain was falling too much. In the case of “Cloud Giants”, if the cloudy mist was too thin or breaking up, the picture of the upper canopy would be “blown-out” and too contrast like. After shooting as many shots as I could before the camera needed wiping down, I had to take a rain break by standing inside one of these enormous tree’s hollowed out trunks.

This particular grove of trees can be found in Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwood National Park. A walk among these ancient redwoods and Douglas fir gives you an intimate look at this magnificent ridge-top redwood forest, with its complement of under story symbiotic plants. These high, wind-whipped slopes and ridges offer redwoods a less enticing habitat than can be found in lower protected valleys.