Eternal Views – Well, Almost!

Here’s another shot taken with the XA2 on Kodak Portra 400. This one is of an ancient oak tree,  probably 200 years old, sitting between the Olive Garden restaurant and the Verizon Store at the Hammond Square Mall.

I imagine that 150 years ago (around the time of the Civil War), when this tree was young this was a great spot for travelers to sit in the shade and rest along the side of a dirt road half way between nothing and nowhere. I’m sure this tree never expected to end up a preservation project in a rapidly developing suburban mall within spitting distance of an Interstate Highway. Too bad we don’t have a picture of it then but at least we have one of it now.

The older I get the more I seems to appreciate the past. Photography can help us remember but only if we are forward thinking enough to capture images today that we will want to look at tomorrow. To my mind this is the real value of photography and photographers.