Scorched Tree and Cloud

This unique digital capture is offered exclusively in black and white, with a matte finish. It’s printed on Ilford’s True B&W paper (see below for paper detail), and treated with a water-based, eco-friendly lustre coating. This coating provides a sheen that visibly enhances the print and provides superior protection. It protects against fingerprints, UV rays, and provides for a richer, enhanced sheen.

Scorched Tree and Cloud is available in three sizes: 8×12, 10×15, and 12×18.

About the Image: Scorched Tree and Cloud
This scene is set in Yellowstone National Park’s Fountain Paint Pots area. Having visited this location several times, this little scorched tree kept yelling, “photograph me!” So I did. Over and over, again; however, I was never happy with what I’d captured.

On a recent visit to this region, during a late-summer rainy season, I again stopped to photograph this little tree. While looking for a new perspective, I observed a big, white, fluffy cloud floating into the area. This cloud was much brighter than those hanging along the distant horizon. I liked the set up! The contrast of a land-locked form against vibrant motion in the sky, the contrast of decaying matter against whimsical change, the contrast of living against dead. I waited patiently until the cloud best presented itself, then I made this capture.

About the Paint Pots Area
The Fountain Paint Pots are a group of mud pots located between the Midway and Lower Geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park.

The area is named for the reds, yellows, and browns of the mud pots found there. The differing colors are derived from oxidation of iron in the mud. As is typical of hot springs, heat beneath the ground forces water to the surface, causing the mudpots to boil. The mud-bubbles, caused by the boiling water, vary in intensity as the year progresses. In early summer there’s more water in the mud, due to snowmelt. Later in the year, the mud becomes thicker as the water table drops.

The dead lodgepole pines in this area were drowned many years ago when the hot springs shifted, claiming new ground and leaving baron vast plains of old ground. Also, silica particles penetrated the trees, hardening their roots.

About Ilford’s True B&W Paper
There is a difference between B&W and true digital B&W prints! Ilford’s panchromatic, resin-coated paper is specifically designed for making continuous-tone B&W prints directly from digital images in digital exposing systems.

This paper also provides excellent tone reproduction. Because the emulsion is silver-based rather than dye-based, the imaging performance and characteristics of this paper are the same as traditional B&W continuous-tone papers. That translates to neutral tonal characteristics offering good sharpness, display and archival characteristics.