Trees: National Champions

Bys: Barbara Bosworth, Douglas R. Nickel, John R. Stilgoe

Book Overview

Trees capture our imagination because they are rooted solidly in the earth but point ethereally toward the sky. They occupy a dimension that has as much to do with time and patience as with place and landscape. They are vertical beings to whom we attribute qualities both divine and human. Since 1991, photographer Barbara Bosworth has been on a quest to photograph America's "champion" trees -- trees that are the biggest of their species, as recorded...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262025922
• ISBN13: 9780262025928
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
• Length: 169 Pages
• Weight: 2.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 12.1" x 9.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Tree Lovers Book

I found this book quite beautiful. Wall to wall black & white photographs of trees showing the intimate relationship with their environment. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who is passionate about trees. Or to anyone who is looking for great photograhic reference as I was. If you are concidering getting this book also look at "AMONG TREES" by Sean Kernan.

Recommended

(Planeta Journal) -- Panoramic black-and-white photographs document the authors visit to the largest of their species in the United States. The National Register of Big Trees is updated every two years. It has prompted the development of a society of "big tree hunters" who track down rumors of possible champions and to verify the size of new contenders as well as the passing of old champions.

AMAZING Images - BOSWORTH is Truly Gifted!

With all due respect, S. Bowman's (Very disappointed!, September 27, 2005) review of this volume must be the product of an extraordinarily tiny brain, enormously inadequate eyesight or both! Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Bowman should consider exploring visual and literary experiences that are better matched to their obviously limited capabilities - The Hallmark Store! Bosworth captures the ineffable grace and dignity of trees with clarity and directness: the green ash that shades a midwestern crossroads, the common pear that blooms in a Washington field, and the Florida strangler fig with its mass of entwining aerial roots. Her photographs, panoramic views taken with an 8 x 10 camera, show the immensity of the largest species and the hidden triumphs of the smallest. Some trees are dethroned each year because of sickness or destruction, but more often simpy because a new and bigger specimen is discovered; only three trees from the original Register in 1940 are still living today. Bosworth's 70 photographs of champion trees are not only a collection of tree portraits but the story of an American adventure as well. When do we get to see Volume II?

Beautiful photographs!

I also want to add that the reviewer who gave this book one star really seems to miss the point. If you do want full-color "calendar" photos, then, yes, this book is not for you. But if you want insightful, subtly beautiful and out of the ordinary images, take a look at "Trees: National Champions." Bosworth's photographs are always thoughtful and often surprising--some of the "national champions" are not majestic at all, at least not as towering giants. Instead, they may seem relatively small compared to the trees of larger species that grow around them. Bosworth also shows most of the champions in their surroundings in a way that comments on the larger landscape and its human presence even as she takes individual trees as her starting point. She's a marvelous photographer, and this great series deserves a good long look.

reviewer misses point of book

This book is not about creating "calendar" images. It compiles a visually stunning record of our nation's diverse landscape. "Bosworth's dramatic, panoramic black-and-white photographs simultaneously document our country's evolving landscape and capture the dignity, tenacity, and singular nobility of gnarled yet graceful giants."