Throughout history, trees have withstood the test of time, quite literally. People are born and people die, civilizations rise and fall, but many trees, trees that you see every day, stay where they are, growing and staying firm.
Photographer Beth Moon is fascinated by trees, especially those that have been around the longest and grown the largest. This fascination led her to travel the globe to photograph the world's most impressive and historic trees.
She is interested in documenting such trees in order to preserve their memory and pay homage to their significance.
Standing as the earth’s largest and oldest living monuments, these symbolic trees will take on a greater significance, Moon says in her artist statement, especially when our focus is directed at finding better ways to live with the environment and celebrating the wonders of nature that have survived throughout the centuries.
Her photos have recently been compiled in a book, "Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time," available through Abbeville Press. She shared some of her photos and stories with us.
One of the most popular tourist attractions in Madagascar, the Avenue of the Baobabs, is a dirt road flanked by about 25 Baobab trees, which are only found on the island and which grow to be almost 100 feet tall. The trees along the avenue are thought to be as old as 800 years.
These two Yew Trees, which flank the door to the Church of St. Edward in Stow-on-the-Wold, England, planted sometime in the 18th century, were probably survivors of an avenue of trees that led to the door of the church. They now appear to grow from the building itself.
This tree, known as Rilke's Banyon, grow around a Buddhist temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The trees can grow 150 feet or taller, and their roots can work to tear up the ancient stone work of the building as they search for soil.
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