51 Comments

Love the color palette on these. Both the actual colors and also the consistency of palette across the different photos.

Expand full comment

Thank you! When I selected them I wasn’t sure whether the colour palette isn’t too similar. But I guess it works.

Expand full comment

There is one image of the cuts in the bark (sad) for tree resin collection that actually looks like a leaf design. Interesting, but still sad. Does it kill the tree?

Love the dog!! Is it a Vizsla?

I may have missed it, but what national park is this?

Expand full comment

You are right about the design. It looks like a leaf! And doesn’t kill the tree. I guess it is similar to harvest maple syrup. It “just” scars the tree.

And yes, it’s a Vizsla! 😍

The National Park is along the coast of the Baltic Sea here in Germany and it’s called “Bodden National Park”. Fairly small as everything in Germany compared to the US…

Expand full comment

Oh I want to walk with you. Received and love a humble life. Such extraordinary beauty and stories reflected in each photograph. Sometimes the photo on a calendar holds past memories. Black Jack gum to share so kind. Tape on wallpaper. Fascinating history of Glen Orlin Johnson life.

Expand full comment

Oh, so happy to hear that you enjoyed it. The walk and the zine! It means a lot!

Expand full comment

Feathers, faces and limbs emerging from these trees - enjoying these hues of brown and green mixing together over the different photographs. Lovely.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Diana! Yes, there is so much to discover in many different ways…

Expand full comment

What a beautifully poignant study Susanne.

Expand full comment

Beautiful captures as always!

Expand full comment

Thanks so much!

Expand full comment

I can relate to this... Here in Northeast Ohio we are 20 minutes from Cuyahoga Valley National Park and get to enjoy this kind of rich, lush forested world on every hike. Moss so thick your foot can sink 6 inches into it. An amazing array of fungi and lichen. And every now and then you stumble on an ancient old growth beech tree hidden deep in the woods. I never tire of exploring it. Having grown up on the coast in Texas, I never knew anything like this until moving here... I am always in awe. Your photos are beautiful!! I've been really enjoying your visual journals!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Sarah! So happy you enjoy these journal entries. I can imagine how it must be to visit the woods when you have grown up in Texas. I grew up near a forest and we would always go there as kids. And still, even as an adult, I never get tired of spending time in the woods.

Expand full comment

I'm enjoying the moments you choose to notice. And the photo of your dog is outstanding, too. Taking pictures of our pets is like taking pictures of the kids, you can take a bazillion of them with digital cameras. That's a really, really nice image though!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Donn. And yes, that photo of my dog is one of a bazillion others and yet precious. I am happy you like it.

Expand full comment

Beautiful photos Susanne the forest reminds me of that German sci-fi show on TV, Dark.

I love the harmony in colours that forest ecosystems have throughout the seasons.

Expand full comment

Dark… so true. Now that you say it. The woods are similar.

And yes, the harmony always gets me. Most people probably prefer the summer and it’s greens, but there is so much beauty in the winter browns and greys too!

Expand full comment

Summer is boring! I love Spring and Autumn, the beginning and the end of the life cycle, life, death, all that with splashes of colour in a sea of ocres, love it!!

Expand full comment

well, Susanne, i'm impressed . . . why am i impressed? . . . because you managed to make a november forest visually compelling . . . of course i might be incorrect about the month but there's nothing green so it's certainly not a july forest lol . . . i call november the ugly month and march is the also ugly month . . . i can't pull a decent forest portrait for the life of me unless there's snow, so congratulations, your november forest portraits are lovely . . . i'm particularly fond of the fern closeup shot.

Expand full comment

Thank you, David. That is a really kind feedback.

Expand full comment

Your photo essays always inspire me. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work.

Expand full comment

Thank you. So glad they do inspire you.

Expand full comment

I love how the colors are similar and unique at the same time. Glad to hear the area is now protected ❤️

Expand full comment

Thank you. Glad you liked it. And yes to protection. They even shut it down in the fall in the time for mating season of the deer so they won’t be disturbed by humans.

Expand full comment

Those resin cuts look like Andy Goldworthy-worthy sculpture!

Expand full comment

True. only that he doesn’t hurt the environment…

Expand full comment

Good point, he would have only used fallen deadwood.

Expand full comment

Amazing photos and the forest in these look very similar to a Finnish forest. The browns and greens are so gorgeous.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Nani! I love that time of year, because the colour palette is just just so quiet and soothing…

Expand full comment

The lines in the trees in picture 2 and 8, are they natural? They look like wood carvings 😍

Expand full comment

They look beautiful, I agree. They were made to harvest to sap of the trees. The tree would be carved and the sap (or resin) would run into a little bucket which would be tied at the bottom of the carving.

Expand full comment

Ahhhh, now that makes sense. They’re beautiful but also sad, poor tree being sapped of its sap. What would the sap be used for?

Expand full comment

I think there are many uses for it: for paint and in glues are probably the main reason.

Expand full comment

Okay, I didn’t realise. Everyday is a school day! 💚

Expand full comment

Ive never assumed I’ve seen most things though I’ve seen many - at least those that I’ve wanted to - but surely never before have I encountered those tortuous scars on a pine before. I thought an artist had deliberately market the bark as a ‘project’. Or tribal tattoos somewhere so remote they’ve been hidden, fearing the reaction of ‘civilized’ people.

Admire your eye and style so much Suzanne. These are beauties.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Patris! I like your interpretation. They look a bit like stakes from ancient tribes or like secret messages from a different species. But once you know the story of these carvings you also start to see them as what they are: Scars. Made by human hands. And even after over thirty years they are still visible. I find them very symbolic. Beautiful and sad at the same time.

Expand full comment

Yes - like a warriors chest piece worn before battle. Or ritual scarring. Certainly sacrifice.

Expand full comment

Yes!!! ♥️

Expand full comment