untitled (b/w man in trees)

This is one of the first successful photographs I ever took, in the mid-80's when I was living in upstate NY. I found these trees in a park near my apartment that were lit from behind by the park lights, which created streaming beams through the branches whenever the atmosphere wasn't clear. I love trees and I wanted to create a spiritually inspiring image using trees as the subject. One foggy night, I asked a friend to pose for me in the trees. We weren't sure exactly what pose he should strike, but when he raised his arms, I knew this depicted the feeling I was hoping for. I used a high speed film and altered the film processing to increase the graininess and contrast so the image would have a Pictorial style similar to the style of photographers at the turn of the 20th century who I was studying at the time. Note that the graininess and charcoal drawing-like effect is more pronounced in the larger photo sizes.