Sun-bleached Branch, Cobalt Sky: Near Sisters, OR

The dead tree in this photograph was surrounded by an ancient lava bed – a stream of molten earth that had hardened and cracked, forming a vast, uneven moonscape of flowing broken rock.  Walking along it, I felt like an alien in a strange world.

In the middle of the flow, there was a small group of dead trees, their branches bleached by the intense sun.  I liked the cocky, sickle-like shape of this branch.  Lying down in the sharp rock, I photographed lit from below, showing it harshly exposed, a single white bone against the hot sky.

Sun-bleached Branch, Cobalt Sky: Near Sisters, OR, 2002