The Ghost Forest of Neskowin
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Copyright Laura A Knauth, All rights reserved.
Please contact me for any usage or licensing options. |
An ancient forest is slowly revealed and consumed by the tide in Neskowin, Oregon.
Technical Details
Canon 50d
18-200mm
Lens, 28mm
f/11, 4s,
ISO 100, EB +1
6 stop ND
Filter
My concept
for this photo started with the name of the place 'The Ghost Forest of
Neskowin'. It is a place along the Oregon coast where trees were buried in sand thousands upon
thousands of years ago; all that time, you could walk across the terrain
and have no notion of what was buried beneath. But as the sands slowly erode
into the ocean, the ancient trees are finally revealed … for only a brief
moment. For as they are revealed, the sands no longer hold them in place, and
the ancient logs are swept out to sea; eventually, you could walk along
the sandy beach and there will be no hints the ancient forest ever existed. The
thought was so haunting and poetic. While I was there, I was so appreciative to see these beautiful
ancient trees, but realized it also meant they were now exposed to the elements - a visual reminder of an immense and ongoing process. I suppose
their story is to cherish the moment, and then cherish what new mysteries might be revealed the next moments, and on,
and on.
When I was
processing the photo, a standard color image did not evoke this sense of
history, or what will be, so I tried black and white. But a standard grayscale
seemed too stark and emotionless, so I kept playing with a few monochrome
presets (I was using Canon's Digital Photo Professional software at the time).
The blue selection was an instant choice. Those bluish tones evoked the
ghostly sense of the place that I was trying to convey.
I also had
several different compositions to choose from especially since the ocean surf
varied with each shot, leaving varied impressions. I liked this image with well
defined rings around the ancient trunks. It seemed to echo the both the sense
of a unique moment in time, and yet because of the nature of waves, a moment in
transition as well. The line of the surf led back to the large haystack rock in
the distance (called 'Proposal Rock').
Once I had
properly adjusted the exposure for the rest of the image, this rock was way too
dark - not only distracting, but a lost opportunity. So I spent most of
my processing time trying to recover and balance the light values
and details of the rock. I wanted it to be properly integrated as a compelling focal point of
the image. It's intriguing that there is a forest of living trees growing atop this
haystack, overlooking the remnants of the ancient forest on the beach. I also
love the random sea gull walking along the sand, slightly ghostly itself as a
result of the longer exposure. All in all, this was one of the more poetic
images I've taken & loved that it captured a kind of story beyond a frozen
moment in time.
by Laura A
Knauth
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