David's Tree Story

In October 2003 I went to a friend's wedding in Hawaii. He and other friends very generously sponsored some of us poorer folk who otherwise couldn't have afforded to go. Perhaps that made me feel more generous of spirit myself.

Anyway, the house where we stayed had a lot of coconut palm trees on the property. One good friend (and one of my sponsors) pulled me aside and asked me to take some photos for her. She pointed at one of the trees, and said that she wanted a photo of that tree as a gift for the groom.

I asked her what it was about the tree that interested her. She paused for a moment, then said that it was something about how it changed its shape in the wind, but overall retained the same form, and that she found that quality somehow important, or at least related, to how she felt about the groom.

Then we looked more, and she noticed the tree's shadow on the ground. We then discussed that maybe the shadow was more interesting than the tree, that the shadow seemed to hold some quality of memory, perhaps it is a print of the object, the way a memory is a kind of print of an experience. She asked me to take some photos of the tree's shadow as a gift for our friend. We talked about shooting video of the shadow, how it came and went as the sun filtered through the clouds. She declined, saying the stills would be enough. So I shot many photos, and will mail the CD to her tomorrow.